The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-07-11 00:00:00

FEMALE EMIGRATION.

Miss Maria S. Rye, writing from The Queen.
Toronto, Canada, to The Times, under date June 12,
says :

---, --
This day fortnight we left Liverpool in the Hibernian for
Canada—to-night, I am sitting alone on the shores of the
Ontario Lake, having disposed most satisfactorily of all the
servants I brought out with me.
Had I had 3.0 more women I believe they could all have
been equally well placed. We had fairly good weather across
the Atlantic, a most attentive and efficient captain, good
discipline Thanks to Captain Smith anti all his officers and
no sickness u orth mentioning.
My thanks are also due to Messrs. Allan Brothers for their
kindness to myself ; to the Grand Trunk Railway company,
who have a.QMsted me most generously in many ways, includ-
ing the use of first-class carriages for my women, and allow-
ing us to travel by express, thus enabling us to avoid the
dirt anti tedium of travelling by the emigrant cars.
We had a most hearty welcome at Montreal, where excel-
lent arrangements had been made for my people, and NV here
In a few hours I easily placed ahout forty women. Toronto
has given us, if possible, a heartier welcome, and my only
fear is, that we are receiving too much attlention and kind-
ness. However, my visit has more than confirmed my belief
that hundreds of situations here may be happily filled by
some of our poor, under-paid, half-starved women in England,
and I see every prospect of the work which has just been
commenced for Canada being again and again repeated with
equal success.

Th 6 Times, in remarking upon the letter, sate—
The result is the more remarkable because it is clear
from the Canadian accounts that the class of girls who
went out were by no means above the average in
capacities or appearance. On the contrary, it seems
that they fell somewhat short of what the Canadians
had imagined to be the "ideal English servant." They
were not all so strong as had been expected, and were
thought to look a little rough. It was as housemaids
and general servants that they were chiefly in demand,
and it was only because the applications were so
numerous that they were able to decline the latter
employment. The demand appears to be, therefore,
for any English girls capable even of the commonest
work, provided they know something of the duties of
household servants. .. .

. . . .
For the moment, in fact, there is clearly an ample
opening in Canada for poor women who are ready to
undertake domestic service. The truth is that women,
who in this country are more numerous than the other
sex, are comparatively. scarce in America. Just as
these girls dictated their own terms for service, so the
wonlyn in America can generally dictate their own
terms to the men. T i his s a circumstance h hich ex-
plains, perhaps, several singular features of American
social life, and it causes the greatest inconvenience in
domestic management. When a country is very
young, and all classes are prepared to rough it, the
want of domestic servants is not felt. But as soon as
ever there arises a demand for those 'comforts of
home" of which Englishmen always retain the re-
collection, the want is felt as a great privation. A
similar demand has long been known to exist in the
United States. Irish girls, rough as they are, find
ready and remunerative employment in New York.
But Irish girls, perhaps, are better fitted to make their
way in New York than ordinary English girls, and it
was a happy thought in Miss Eye to make this experi-
ment in Canada. . .

But if there be this demand on the other side of
the Atlantic, there is certainly an abundant supply to
he obtained from this side. It is impossible to realize
the miserable subsistence which thousands of
needlewomen receive in London. By what means they
exist at all on the little tea and sugar and bread which
is all that their earnings can provide for them is a
mystery to those who know them best. Many, of
course, are driven to bad courses; but great numbers
still" stitch," as in Hood's sad poem, from early morn-
ing till late at night, for the barest pittance. The
introduction of the sewing machine, though doubtless
it will ultimately benefit them, increases their
suffering for the present. It lowers the value of
ordinary work, and thi ows it, moreover, to a great ex-
tent into the hands of those who can afford to purchase a
machine. In time, this very hardship will compel
women ta find some better employment, and will thus
emancipate them from a tedious drudgery, but
meantime the hardships and the perplexity remain.
Persons who. like Miss Rye, are endeavouring to find
other occupation for such women are engaged in a
practical as well as a charitable work, and they deserve
every support. We rejoice to see, therefore, that one of
these experiments has turned out so Bum ssfully, and
that, moreover, under r onditiont which are probably
permanent and not exceptional. Miss Rye will, doubt-
less, receive from the charitable the further support she
nee Is and deserves. But there is no reason why the
matter should be left entirely in her hands. All
' persons whose duties or u-hose charities bring them
among this class of women should exert themselves
to make it generally understood that there is this
opening for their labour. It should be known as
widely as possible that no woman need starve in Eng-
land who is ready to do honest household work in
Canada. Perhaps the time has come for the emigration
of in omen in large numbers. The emigration of men
has, in a great measure, done its work. The land is
cultivated, and the communities are more or less
settled. It is time that they should be no longer
dependent on Europe for the development of their
population, but should become in every respect self-
supporting. At all events, it happens that at the same
moment there is a cry for more women in England.
Such coincidences are never fortuitous, and we trust to
see a tide of female emigration setting steadily for some
time to our Transatlantic colonies.