Business openings for girls

Contents

SALESWOMEN AND CASH GIRLS .

II SALESWOMEN AND CASH GIRLS {continued)

III ARTISTIC AND HYGIENIC DRESSMAKING .

II SALESWOMEN AND CASH GIRLS {continued)

T T Then one considers the large army of women *A* and girls who are employed in stores all over the country, the first wonder is that so many can be found to fill the places. In several of the large stores in Boston — the largest ones, of course — the number of girls employed reaches far into the hundreds. At one establishment of note, which has a national reputation, about twelve hundred are on the pay roll. Of these about two hundred are cash girls, four hundred are tube girls, one hundred are stock girls, and the rest are saleswomen. At another large store the number is one thousand. Of these three hundred and ten are cash girls — there are no tube girls — two hundred are stock girls, and the rest salesgirls. Other establishments, according to their capacity, employ from twenty-five to one thousand.

I tried very hard, for my own satisfaction, to find out just about how many girls were thus employed in the city of Boston alone, but it would take a year, or even longer, by the most systematic method, to ascertain ; for not only do the large stores employ them, but every little threadand-needle store has one or two girls employed, and usually in these the proprietor is also a woman. The number goes a long way into the thousands. And yet there is never a difficulty in filling a position. Does a worker drop out of the ranks, for any reason whatever, somebody is always waiting to step into her place, and oftener than not there are a dozen disappointed ones for the one successful seeker. There is a pathetic side to this, which must be recognized. In spite of the number of women and girls employed, there is an ever-increasing number waiting for the chance. The supply every year grows still greater than the demand — a condition of affairs which economists always consider unfortunate.

And just here, before stating the duties which devolve upon these girls and women who enter the mercantile life, I want to say a word to the young women outside the large cities who think that the fortune for which they so ardently long may be reached at a grasp within the boundaries of town. There can be no fallacy more fatal than this. It is like believing fairy tales, or taking the Arabian Nights seriously.

The city is no place to come to, expecting to find employment, unless one has friends who can use influence in her behalf and befriend her when she comes friendless and strange into the midst of a new life. Workers are plenty in the cities. One has only to go into the office of some merchant who has advertised for extra help, say at the holiday season. As a rule, if fifty are wanted, five hundred will come to apply. The majority of these have to be disappointed of course. All these applicants are from the city or near suburbs ; and with all this army to choose from, what chance does the girl stand who is unused to city ways and city habits ?

I know the impatient frown which will come upon many faces as this is read, but all that I say is true. I have heard country girls talk of coming to the city for employment, giving as one reason that they wanted more social life. Well, that is just what they will not get ; the woman of business is not a woman of leisure, and she has no time for society. She will find more social life in her own home, even if she be a worker, than she could ever have in the city, and there is no lonesomeness more absolute than the loneliness of a stranger in a crowd. Salaries are not large enough to permit of much relaxation in the way of entertainments, and after the day's work is over one is too tired to go in search of enjoyment. In the country home, in these days, the daily paper and the magazine comes, so that one may keep in touch with the world, even if she be at one side of the bustle and confusion of city life. The fashion articles tell her how to dress her hair and make her gown, and gives her the latest notions in small toilet details. No town is so small that it has not its public library, where all the new books come ; and the lecture and concert are not infrequent in visits. Railways and telegraphs have brought the corners of the earth together, so that one is never very far away from the centers of things. There are occupations, too, for the girls who stay at home, and particularly those who stay in the country, and these will be talked about by and by. Do not throng to the cities in search of employment, for you will be doomed to bitter disappointment. The country stores employ women, as well as the city stores, and many a girl makes a good beginning in them. I, myself, know country towns where, a few years ago, nearly every position in the stores was held by young men, which to-day are held by women. Everywhere it has come to be quite the accepted state of things that women shall sell goods.

In the city stores the rules governing the duties of the various employes are arbitrary. And they are always rigorously enforced. The law has taken the matter of child-labor into its protecting hands, so that now no boy or girl under fourteen may be permanently employed. That, then, sets the date of the girl's beginning. The cash girls are, as a rule, fourteen and fifteen years of age. Their duty is to run on errands, carry bundles from counter to counter for customers, and be at the beck and call of the salesmen or saleswomen. In the days before money was sent to the desk by machinery, the girls had to carry it to the desk and bring back the change and the parcel. But notwithstanding this duty has been taken from them in many stores, the girls still have enough to do and they do not find many idle moments. They have to be at their post, ready to begin work when the store is opened. As most stores open at eight o'clock, this means being there at certainly quarter before eight. They must report to their superintendents, put away their street garments, and be at their places at the unlocking of the door. The time of their arrival is marked against their names, and if they are late they are fined a small sum. In some places they are allowed to work out the fine, by shortening their dinner hour by as many minutes as they are late, but in other places this chance is not given them, and the fine must stand. All day long they are on their feet, flying about here and there, and I don't believe anybody is gladder, when the big gong gives the signal to lock the doors, than are these young girls. For these long hours and all their work, they receive two and a half or three dollars a week, and this must oftentimes be made smaller by the fines. If a cash girl prove herself bright, clever and capable, she may look forward to being advanced into a position as stock girl or salesgirl, or given a place in the mail-order department. The " stock girl," as she is called, has charge of the stock for a certain counter. She must see that this counter is well supplied, and she must keep the goods in order. She must possess watchfulness, deftness, and pride in the attractive appearance of her goods. Her hours are the same as all the rest, and she has from five to six dollars a week.

It is usually the ambition of every cash girl to become a saleswoman ; that is, if she has any marked adaptability for the business. It is a proud day when she is allowed for the first time to attend upon a customer and to supply her wants. When she makes her first trial, she usually proves whether she has the stuff for success in her or not. Many eyes are upon her. The hours that the saleswoman has to keep are the same as those of the cash girl, and she is subject to the same rules, until she arrives at the head of a department, when a little more latitude is allowed. The same system of fines prevails that governs the cash girl. One would think that when a girl had been given a position of dignity and responsibility that there would be no need of anything like discipline ; but it is found necessary, to the shame of the workers be it said.

Discipline varies in different establishments. In some it is almost military in its severity and its perfectness, the girls not being allowed to converse with each other except upon topics connected with the business. At other stores they may chatter as much as they please ; they are supposed not to neglect customers, but they often do, or else betray such an utter indifference to the customer's wants that she goes away irritated without making her purchase. I had a funny little experience once in a Boston store. I wanted to match some silk to ribbons, and I went with my pattern. As I entered I was met by one of the proprietors who is known to me, and we walked along to the ribbon counter together. I handed my sample to a girl there, who did not look up, but reaching it back to me said rather curtly : " We Ve nothing like it."

" But you haven't looked," I persisted.

She was about to persist also, when an odd look on the face of one of the other girls made her glance at me. As she saw the proprietor standing by my side, she turned very red, murmured a confused apology, and began hunting for the ribbon, which she very soon found.

I didn't pity her distress one bit ; I think I was rather glad that she was caught in that way. It will probably be a lesson to her and she will be more careful in the future.

Quite in contrast to this was a scene I witnessed in another large establishment. I was waiting for a friend who was to have a cloak tried on ; it was not quite done, so we sat until it should come downstairs. A lady came in with a little girl for whom she wished to purchase a cloak. The child was large of her age and difficult to fit ; but the saleswoman who was attending upon her never lost her patience at all. She tried on, and tried on ; she was as interested as possible to please the customer ; she made suggestions, and did all in her power to give the mother exactly what she wanted. The result was she made a good sale, and at the same time secured a constant customer. Do you suppose that the lady will ever go to that establishment again without asking the same one to serve her? Of course she won't. It is women like this one who make themselves valuable to their employers, and they are the ones, also, who are steadily advanced, and who come at length to be the heads of departments. They are the women who get the larger salaries ; for they are worth the most money. They control a certain amount of trade. Customers will wait for them if they are busy, and will not trade with anyone else.

In most of the large stores the proprietors know just how much each salesman or saleswoman sells every day, and in that way it is very easy to keep track of her value to the firm. When girls complain because their salaries are not raised when some other girl is advanced, they do not take it into account that they have not made themselves of value to those who employ them.

There is something very mean in the mere giving of eye-service. It is a species of dishonesty. With an honorable employer honest service cheerfully given is nearly sure to meet the reward of advancement. I know that it is difficult to always be pleasant of voice, eye and bearing, that it is not easy to feign an interest one does not feel — but the thing to do is to feel the interest. Make the customer feel that you are as anxious that she shall be pleased as she herself is. It will be much easier to please her. There is no reason why the purchaser and the one from whom she makes her purchase should regard each other as natural enemies, and each be constantly on the lookout for some fancied insult or slight. If each would exercise patience and charity they would get on well enough. There is no need, because a girl takes a position in a store, that she shall proclaim a declaration of independence by her deportment to every customer — she can't afford to do it. Courtesy, self-respect and an interest in her business are the conditions of ultimate success, and no girl need fear failure if she has these added to a natural ability to do the work she has undertaken. She will not only succeed, but she will win for herself friends who will regard her with admiration and respect, and will make her, in their thoughts, at least, the pattern for other women of her class to model themselves upon.

Ill

ARTISTIC AND HYGIENIC DRESSMAKING

TN every town and village are young women and -L girls who are anxiously asking what they can do in their own community to earn a livelihood. The big, outside world has no attraction for them. They either want to keep in the shelter of the home, or else there is somebody for whom they themselves must be the home-keepers. Circumstance, rather than desire or ambition, must be the governing power of their lives. If you would know how large is this army of waiting women you should pass a day at the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in Boston, and get Mrs. Osborne to tell you of the appeals for help that come from Maine to Oregon, from Michigan to Florida. The burden of it all is, "Tell me what I can do at home to earn some money/'

I would like to tell you how the Union comes to be besieged with applicants. I am sure the story will interest you, and you may, some of you, find a word of needed warning and advice in it. Three or four years ago all the newspapers in city

ARTISTIC DRESSMAKING

and country, daily and weekly, were filled with advertisements headed, u Work at Home/' and saying that if women would send either one dollar or two, as the case might be, she would receive outfit and instruction for art work to be done at home, and that after they had learned, they would be supplied with work, and could earn a nice bit of money at home. Well, you can have no idea how the responses came in ; the dollars literally poured into the hands of the advertisers. In return a piece of very coarse velveteen, stamped with a pattern, and a few needlefuls of silk would be sent with directions for working ; when this piece of embroidery was finished, it was to be sent to the supply company, with another dollar, and if it was satisfactory, permanent work would be given. In almost all the cases there was no return for the dollar. It very rarely happened that the work suited, or if it did no reply came, and nothing more was heard from the money sent. In hundreds of instances the dollar or two could not be spared, and meant such sacrifice as few of us can understand. Presently this matter came to the notice of the Women's Union in Boston, and it set to work to stop the business. It got all the evidence it needed, and then it sent lawyers to the places. In most cases no responsible persons could be found, so nothing could be done by law.

It went to the newspapers and got the advertising stopped, and got articles written about it. It couldn't get the money back for the poor women who had sent it, but it could prevent others from being duped. In this way the Union became known all over the country, and women began to write to the Union for work. Of course, the Union could not supply them ; it could only point out to them what to avoid.

There was one thing else plainly shown by the flood of answers which came to this fraudulent advertising. That was, not only were there hundreds, yes, thousands, of women wanting work, but the majority were anxious to do " art " work of some kind. Good, honest work, that was genuinely practical, found little favor in the eyes of the multitude. Somehow, anything that was "art," no matter how bad art it was, hadn't the flavor of labor about it. If it was work at all, it was " genteel" work, and " ladies " could do it. Now, girls, honestly, isn't that feeling a very silly one? If one finds it necessary to do anything for money, why not stand up squarely and face the fact, and do the work that comes to be done, whatever it may be, in a straightforward fashion, instead of dodging about under all sorts of make-believes, and pretending to be what one is not ?

I referred to the misuse of the term " ladies " in

ARTISTIC DRESSMAKING

a former chapter ; just here I want to emphasize it. It is improper, a mistake in language, to speak of yourself, or of any other person, as " ladies " in connection with work of any kind. The term "lady" presupposes leisure. In the same way the word " gentleman M carries a like significance. Now, you know very well that the term " gentleman of business" is never used, and you certainly never hear of " salesgentlemen." Isn't the very sound ridiculous? And yet your man of business often is the polished, well-bred man of society, with a position which no one can dispute. You can be well-bred women, even if you are work-women. You may be " ladies " at your leisure. But it isn't the insistence on the term that will make you so. On the contrary, the very use of the term in connection with work stamps you at once as ignorant if not ill-bred.

A few years since I was passing the summer at a well-known seaside resort, and in a sudden emergency I wanted some laundry work done. I rang for the bell-boy of the hotel and asked him to see if the laundress could do it for me at once. He soon returned with the following reply :

" I am sorry, Mrs. White, but the washerlady is out."

Yes, I know you are laughing at the ridiculousness of it ; but take care that you never make yourself ridiculous in a similar fashion.

And now, if you are prepared to take up your work in true, dignified, work-woman fashion, I have a suggestion to make to those of you who have quick eyes, deft fingers, and a true taste ; I might add also, an artistic instinct, but I am getting to be a bit afraid of expressions of that kind — they are quite apt to make mischief. Still, there is an art side to the occupation I am about to suggest, but it must be taken sensibly, and not to the sacrifice of everything else. I know you are expecting something delightfully new, and I can fancy I hear a murmur of disappointment when I say — dressmaking !

Well, but you must understand that there is dressmaking and dressmaking. It is not the old-fashioned kind that I am about to commend to you, but the new, which has originality, idea and principles about it. The principles are beauty and comfort, the idea is becomingness and health, and all of it combined constitute the originality. I dare say you have all heard of " Dress Reform," and have grown to have a horror of the term because it has stood for ugliness pure and simple, and for crankiness unadulterated. Well, it isn't called Dress Reform any more, but " artistic and hygienic dressing." This phase of it began with

ARTISTIC DRESSMAKING

Mrs. Flynt, when she invented the waist that should take the place of corsets. It was to be adapted to the figure, rather than force the figure to be adapted to it. Mrs. Flynt was wise in her day and generation ; she saw that interesting invalidism for women was going out of fashion, and that healthfulness was to become a fashion. She foresaw the generation of tennis-playing, horseback-riding, mountain-climbing girls, devoted to gymnastics of all kinds, that was to rise up, and she wisely made ready for them. Room to develop, room to grow, was the principle upon which she " built " her waist — as the English woman would say — She did not start a crusade against beauty — no, indeed ! " Have everything as pretty as you like," she said, " but be true to Nature." At first, women eyed the waists askance ; they were suspicious of any innovation on old methods ; but by degrees they became interested, and the best proof of Mrs. Flynt's success is the large number of patent health waists that have been put upon the market since Mrs. Flynt started, and the numbers that are sold.

But that was only the beginning ; and it has been left to another woman, Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller, to make a rounding-out of the idea of proper dress. If there is anybody in the world who does not believe that a healthful dress can be a pretty one, I only wish she could see some of the graceful gowns that Mrs. Miller evolves from that keen, artistic brain of hers. They are simply wonders. They keep close enough to the lines of Fashion not to seem queer ; but each gown is original and picturesque, having in it the very essence of graceful and becoming dressing, at the same time it is on the most strictly hygienic principles. Now there are hundreds of women who would like to adopt Mrs. Miller's dress plan, but their dressmakers turn up their noses at it, and it is, thus far, as a rule, impossible to get such gowns made. There are a few of the most fashionable dressmakers in Boston and New York who are seriously studying the idea; but they are the wise ones who look ahead, and who see what is coming, and are going to be ready.

I venture to say that the reason why so few take it up is because it does require originality and artistic instinct to be successful in this line of work. But the girl or woman who is artistic in her feeling, and who has the gift of expressing this feeling, has here a field open before her that she will find very remunerative. It requires more skill to make dresses in this way than in the old stereotyped fashion, because much depends upon individual expression. I will assure you that sue-

ARTISTIC DRESSMAKING

cess lies in this line of work, for no one who sees the models of the dresses but becomes at once enamored of them, and is straightway in despair because she cannot have them. " There is nothing that prevents hundreds of women taking up this dress," said Mrs. Miller, a few weeks since, "but the impossibility of finding dressmakers who will attempt them."

That gave me the idea at once of suggesting this occupation to artistic girls all over the country. Here is an opening field that is, as yet, practically unexploited. So many other occupations are overburdened with workers. Here is one asking the workers to come into it. You see that I was right when I told you there was dressmaking and dressmaking. One wants to understand the principles of fitting, but must be thoroughly emancipated from the idea that the only fitting is over a tight corset. Of course, it goes without saying that one must be a good needlewoman, must have an eye for color combinations, and must be able to adapt styles to different individuals. After that the work is simple enough. Mrs. Miller publishes in her magazine, Dress, all her new models, so that it is easy to follow her, and the girl with originality may design for herself. If she have the ability to do this she will be more valuable to her customers than if she be able only to follow other peopled models, and she may command a large price for her work.

There is hardly a town of any size that will not support at least one dressmaker of this kind, and she may either go to her customers by the day, or she may have them come to her at her own house. Good dressmakers get all the way from two dollars to five dollars a day, according to their ability and originality. These are city prices, but I suppose there is no place where a good dressmaker would have less than the first-named price. You see a girl could have a good income, and make herself invaluable to her employers. At the same time she is doing something satisfactory, and is exercising her love for the beautiful and refined, and, with right governing ideas of what is beautiful in a gown, it must be a real delight to work on the pretty stuffs that are used nowadays.

Think this matter over, girls, and see if it isn't a happy thought for some of you. If you know nothing of the matter send to the Jenness- Miller Publishing Company in New York for a copy of the magazine, Dress, and in that you will find what you will need to put you in the right way. I am sure that more than one girl will find her financial and business fortune in this work, and also that she will be grateful that it comes under the head of " home work."

IV

7] MONG all the professions that have been A) opened to women during the past few years, none seems on first sight so tempting as that of newspaper work. I do not say " journalism, " for that is a term with which I have little sympathy. It is too dilettanti ; too little expressive of the real thing. Your genuine newspaper worker is an honest worker ; there's no make believe about him or her. As for your " journalist," well, he's very likely to think more of his title than his achievement. One of the best editors whom it is my good fortune to know, has a fashion of saying, if anyone speaks of a " journalist " to him, " Oh ! a journalist, is he? Well, he won't suit me I'm afraid ; what I'm looking for is a good, wide-awake newspaper man."

So what I want to talk to you about is newspaper work. In the beginning, by way of preface or apology, I am going to say that there is some danger that there will be a good deal of " I " in this paper. But as most of it is drawn from personal experience, the presence of this obtrusive little personal pronoun cannot very well be helped.

There is more than one reason why this profession should be regarded as a pleasant one, although it is a question whether the reasons are " good and sufficient/* In most cases they are based on wrong premises, and are arrived at through ignorance of the whole affair. In the first place, many persons think it an easy way to earn a livelihood ; they think the remuneration greater than it really is; others think it a work that brings influence with it, and still others regard it as a somewhat less objectionable mode of work than that done with the hands, and are very fond of setting off mental labor against the purely manual labor. Others, again, are ambitious of position and think it a fine thing to have, as they term it, " the public ear." Now anybody, man or woman, who takes up this profession with any ideas of this kind, is very far astray, and will make a speedy and signal failure.

It is one of the best professions in the world. It is one which catches and holds the enthusiasm of its workers as nothing else does. It opens possibilities of attainment that are undreamed of when the first steps are taken. But it is a profession that must be undertaken with humility of spirit, and treated always with the highest respect. It cannot be used as a makeshift ; it will do nothing for the one who takes it up carelessly, or to serve a purpose, and drops it after the purpose is served or some other position won. It gives much to its honest workers, but to the others it refuses its best gifts.

After twenty years of constant work in the profession which I chose when very few young women had dreamed of choosing it, I am come more than ever to believe that it is a profession specially suited to the woman who suits it. You see I don't say all women, for not all women will make successful newspaper workers, any more than all men will. It is not an easy work, albeit it is fascinating. It, more nearly than any other I know, will answer the description given of women's work in the old doggerel which ran,