George J. Manson

“ At the worst, existence becomes a torment and a burden. I am the eager, yet weary, slave of my profession, and the best it can do for me—who am fortunate enough to be included among its successful members—is to barely palliate the suffering of a forty-weeks' exile from my own house and my family. ”

“ Happy the moments when it responds to our appeal. It is only at such moments that an artist can feel satisfaction in his work—pride in his creation; and this feeling is the only real and true success which ought to be the object of his ambition. ”

“ A gentleman occupying a high position in one of the leading telegraph companies in New York says, that telegraphy is a good occupation for a young woman, and, provided she has no talent to do any thing better, it will furnish her a reasonably pleasant, profitable, and sure means of employment. But the opportunities of eventually getting a large salary, or of obtaining an enviable position, do not exist in this field of work. Women, he says, do not make good managers. ”

“ Women book-agents—and, in defence of this ungallant remark, I must state again that "I say the tale as 'twas said to me"—women book-agents are apt to waste a great deal of time in the spring and fall in getting their wardrobes ready for the coming season. "Who ever knew of a man," remarked a cynical publisher, "stopping work for two or three weeks because he was going to have a suit of clothes made? No one. And yet you will find a female book-agent stop canvassing in the busiest season in order to superintend the making of her dresses." ”

“ These temptations are not in the theatre itself. The profession of acting is conducted on purely business principles. Life behind the scenes is dull, uninteresting, matter-of-fact. The actors and the actresses are full of their work, and the whole place is decidedly unromantic. But there are great temptations from without the theatre, into the details of which it is not necessary to enter. It is not necessary that she should yield to these temptations, nor are they, probably, all things considered, any greater or stronger than the pretty shop-girl has to meet. ”

“ A contributor to a London magazine, writing some years ago, on the subject of the employment of women in photography, said: "I have pleasure in bearing testimony to the fact, that in photography there is room for a larger amount of female labor; that it is a field exactly suited to even the conventional notions of woman's capacity; and further, that it is a field unsurrounded with traditional rules, with apprenticeship, and with vested rights, and it is one in which there is no sexual hostility to their employment." ”

“ Notwithstanding all these objections, however, which a woman can weigh and take for what they are worth, the trade of a compositor is a very good one. Among men, a type-setter has always been considered the most independent of mortals. If he is thorough master of his trade, he is always sure of work, and with the great development of our country, there is hardly a spot to which he may drift where he will not find a printing-office and an opportunity to earn money. ”

“ During working hours, of course, nothing but business is attended to. Lunch is eaten in the establishment, and during the lunch hour the girls gather together in little knots and talk about the last picnic or the coming ball. But the place is so large, that a girl of reserved manners can generally keep by herself, or select such companions as she prefers.
The trade is not difficult to learn, the work is neat and clean, the rooms where the girls work—that is, in the large bookbinderies—are commodious, well lighted, and airy. ”

“ Strange to say, it happens often that very good actors make but poor professors, while the best private teacher I ever met was, like Michonnet, but an indifferent actor himself. The danger is that the pupil in this kind of instruction may become a mere imitator of his model. Imitation is the worst mode of learning, and the worst method in art, as it kills the individual creative power, and in most cases, the imitators only follow the peculiar failings of their model. ”

“ To give an example of the kind of publisher to be avoided, I may state that in a large Eastern city there is a man who makes it his business, at certain seasons of the year, to advertise for young lady agents. He always wants "young ladies," and he always wants them to be without experience. He publishes but one book, of which he is the putative author. The young ladies receive their board and a trifle for spending money at the end of every week, all living under one roof. ”

“ The lady who would succeed as a public reader must, like the actress, be good-looking. The most successful lady readers now before the public are physically attractive. Some of them are large, fine-looking women, while others are petite; but no matter what the particular style of beauty may be, they are all pleasing in their personal appearance.
The woman who wants to make public reading a profession will do all she can to get her name and profession before the public. ”

“ Third, she must be a good judge of human nature, and on this one commandment, probably, hangs all the law and the prophets of book-canvassing. [p.100] For, if she has been a student of mankind she will use great judgment in her vocation. She will call at the proper time, at the proper place, upon the kind of people who will most likely want to see her, or rather the book she has to offer. She will, by her demeanor, win the respect of the men, the admiration of the women, and the love of the children. ”

“ The female book-agent is very much depressed if she does not make good earnings at the start. Her depression so affects her spirits that she cannot be as industrious as she otherwise would, and so she does more and more poorly until, finally, she gives up the business. Men agents do not, as a rule, become discouraged so easy. They know that provided they have got a good book, published by a good house, it is only a question of time when they will be making good earnings. Women should go to work in the same spirit. ”

“ The work is hard and confining, but the pay, as women are paid, is very good. A trained nurse never receives less than $20 a week, her board being, of course, included, and more often she will get $25, or even $30, a week; in fact, she can command her own price, and that price will depend upon the wealth and liberality of her patrons, and the ability which she brings to bear on the case in hand. Good nursing is very often more important than good doctoring, and thousands of people are willing to pay liberally for such exceptional help. ”

“ A woman is not always sure of how much she will earn unless, after years of work, she has secured the custom of a certain number of families, on whose patronage she can depend. There is so much responsibility and worriment attached to this way of working at the trade that the majority of dress-makers prefer to hire themselves out by the week, and feel sure of receiving each Saturday night a stated amount for their services.
The objection that applies to going out to private service is urged against a woman going into the business on her own account. ”

“ The profession of teaching would seem, at a first glance, to be overcrowded. School committees who are charged with the duty of selecting tutors are, it is said, overwhelmed with applicants for the positions that are to be filled. Young women are constantly striving to get places in academies, and the host of females who are seeking situations in the public schools of New York is, indeed, mighty. ”

“ It is a little singular that in a great city like New York, there should be but one lady photographer, while in the western part of our country there are quite a number. The photographers I speak of do all the work of making a picture,—posing the sitter, preparing the chemicals, and operating the camera. One reason why there are so few ladies in this business is the fact, that up to within a short time it has been a very disagreeable occupation on account of the nature of some of the chemicals that were used—they would soil the hands very easily, and the stains could not be removed. ”

“ When nursing in families where there are no servants, if their attention be not of necessity wholly devoted to their patient, they are expected to [p.58] make themselves generally useful. They are to be careful not to increase the expense of the family in any way. They are also most earnestly charged to hold sacred the knowledge which, to a certain extent, they must obtain of the private affairs of such households or individuals as they may attend."
The field of employment which has just been described, offers great opportunities for the proper kind of women to make an independent livelihood. ”

“ Canvassing for books is a business in which some men have been known to make $10,000 a year, and a large number of other men have earned $2,000 and $3,000 in the same length of time. This is an occupation which, under certain conditions, is admitted to be just as suitable for a woman as a man.
The newspapers have poked a great deal of fun at book-agents, and their ridicule has, doubtless, deterred many a person from following the occupation. A young man, a book-agent, once wrote for advice to the editor of a New York paper. ”

“ For those of our calling who have to make this weary round, year after year, with disappointed [p.89] ambitions and defeated hopes as their inseparable company, I can feel from the bottom of my heart. Each season makes the life harder and drearier; each year robs it of one more prospect, one more chance, one more opportunity to try and catch the fleeting bubble in another field. ”

“ Up to within a very short period all this work has been done by men, principally foreigners; but talented and enterprising women saw that they were able to do the work equally well, and it is only a question of time when women will entirely monopolize this field of industry.
[p.3] It will be seen at once that the woman who is ambitious to become an industrial designer must have, first of all, originality. She must have good taste and an eye for color. Drawing must come natural to her. The mere ability to copy pictures, or make sketches from nature is not enough. ”

“ In only one large establishment in New York is there a woman occupying such a position. It is proper to state, however, that she gives perfect satisfaction, that her employer would not replace her for a man, and that he believes other bookbinders will eventually see the advisability of having a female instead of a male overseer. A man, it is said, is apt, in giving out work, to favor the pretty girls at the expense of the plain-looking damsels, thus creating jealousy among the employés, while a woman is not influenced in that way. ”

“ The great majority of young ladies, he observed, "who sought positions had been members of some amateur dramatic company, which they had joined from a love of recreation and amusement. The friends of a young woman continually spoiled her by undeserved praise, and, finally, she believed herself capable of taking the highest and most difficult parts, and forthwith rushed to the nearest theatrical manager or dramatic agent and sought a position. ”

“ If a woman has a thorough knowledge of short-hand, she can do well, as a teacher of the art, in almost any community. Many persons, even in remote and small places, would learn phonography if the subject were brought to their attention by an instructor. Clergymen, [p.122] lawyers, doctors, many women of leisure, young women who would study with a view to being amanuenses—all such people could be obtained as pupils. The teacher could give from fifteen to thirty or forty lessons, at a charge of from fifty cents to a dollar a lesson. ”

“ One point must be borne in mind; a dramatic school ought to have an independent financial basis, and not rely for its support on the number of its pupils, because in such a case the managers might be induced to receive candidates not in the least qualified for the dramatic profession.
"Of the three elements that, in my opinion, go to make up a good dramatic artist, the first one, technique, must be acquired by professional training; the second and higher one, which is art itself, originates in a natural genius, but can and ought to be improved by the general cultivation of the mind. ”

“ In connection with proof-reading it may be mentioned that young girls or young women find employment as "copy-holders." Their duty is to read aloud to the proof-reader the copy of the author. If they can read rapidly and correctly they can earn about $8 a week.
Female compositors are now largely employed in job and newspaper offices, but it is only fair to state the objections to their following this trade. In some establishments they are obliged, like the men, to stand at their work. Physicians state, and the experience of the women themselves proves, that this is very detrimental to health. ”

“ Men still hold the best positions, and they receive large salaries, from $1,000 to $4,000 a year. In the present condition of affairs, hedged in as the female industrial designer is by the masculine doubt of the employer as to her ability, and the masculine jealousy of the employé whose work she seeks to do, it would be the best plan for her to do piece-work at her own home, or office. Her earnings, under this plan, cannot even be stated approximately. The pay for a good carpet design would be $20 to $30, and the design can be made in two and a half days. ”

“ Women can learn to become telegraph operators at almost any age. Young girls of fifteen have successfully studied the art, and women as old as forty have also learned it. But the age which is recommended by good judges [p.23] as being the best, is not younger than eighteen, nor older than twenty-five.
The time it takes to learn to become an operator depends, of course, on the aptness of the pupil, her general intelligence, and previous education. Some learn very readily, others after months of study never become sufficiently proficient to take positions. ”

“ Notwithstanding this discouraging view, a thoroughly qualified teacher need seldom be without employment. The women who have had a solid systematic training in the English branches, and who, in addition to mere mental qualifications, have the knack, or genius, it might be called, of reaching the minds of the young, are very few. [p.117] There are plenty of superficially educated young women who "take up" teaching as their profession. They are not thoroughly grounded in the very rudiments of knowledge; they have no knowledge of, or sympathy with, children ”

“ Of course, all lady book-agents do [p.103] not adopt this practice, but it is well to allude to the custom, because it is very unbusiness-like, and furnishes a hint in the direction of how not to succeed.
Two classes of women, publishers find, seek the employment of book-canvassing. A great many young ladies enter the business—it might be said skip into it—with all the gayety and with all the inexperience of youth. These young persons are about eighteen or nineteen years of age; they are buoyant of nature, full of hope, bursting with self-confidence. ”

“ The woman who makes teaching her profession must have real ability, and feel herself thoroughly adapted for the calling.
No woman, unless she has great "influence," can hope to obtain a position in the public schools of New York. The western part of our country seems to be a good field for well-qualified teachers, who must, however, be endowed with some courage.
The country is a good place for a young lady to begin work. Positions are more easily secured, and the qualifications required are not so great as in the city. ”

“ They can make a pretty sketch, or draw a landscape quite fairly, and so they think they will "take up" art as a profession. And nearly all of them fail of success. The trouble seems to be that they lack originality; they are mere copyists, and too often very poor reproducers of the things they copy.
One branch of art—that of industrial designing—offers golden opportunities to make an excellent living in a pleasant way, but, before deciding to enter it, a woman should be very sure indeed that she has the necessary qualifications to pursue the study successfully ”

“ They are brought in contact with the female members of families, and in thus meeting members of their own sex they are at no loss for interesting topics of conversation. For the successful book-agent, it is needless to say, does not, the moment she enters a house, present her wares and cry boldly "Buy"; she "leads up" to the business in hand.
In selecting a book a woman should go to a first-class publisher and pick out a work which, according to her judgment (and without much regard to what he may say, because he may very often be wrong) , will meet a popular household demand. ”