The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-05-05

cept from two or three shops, where the
price, as compared with the cost of the
) material, is so dispropOrtionate as to be
! onl y possible to people To whom a few
pounds more or less makes no difference.
; The only place where elegantly made
prints for ladies' morning wear are to be
had is a French establishment. They
are imported from Paris, and cost as
much as a rich silk. Surely this is alb
surd whilst there are so many ladies
who say they want work. An appeal
has been made for funds to establish a
school for young ladies who wish to learn
scientifically, but the school has not yet
been started.
Nursing has long been talked of as
sphere of woman's work The profession
has not been at all developed in the way
it might have been. 1t has infinite ram
ifications and new fields still to be con-
quered. Middle-aged ladies might 90
out as monthly nurses, for which six
months of proper training would fit them.
Many ladies would prefer an attendant
who could be an intellectual companion
as well as a nurse. Dispensing medicine
seems to have been tried with success,
and there is no good reason why women
should not make good chemists. The
government telegraph offices and the post
office clerkships supply good deal of
work, but it Is not suitable to the same
class Of young girls who would other
wise 90 behind the counter. In America
women are found very useful in banks,
as they are Invaluable detectors of forged
notes their sense of touch and sight
seeming to be keener than that of the
young men clerks. They have also
been employed as Treasury clerks ever
since the war. The profession of house
decorating seems one likely 10 develop
itself, and is apparently very well suited
to ladies of taste and education. Here,
however, an apprenticeship of several
years is required, as a knowledge of ar
chitecture and drawing to scale is absolute
faculties, and energy would be necessary
to ensure success. With this occupation
might be combined art needle-work and |
glass painting. China-plinting, too,
comes under this head, as tiles and /
plaques are now so much used in house /
decoration. OF literature, the general |
refuge for the distressed, we need scarce
ly here speak, except that it might be
made remunerative profession even by
women without the talent of a George
Eliot, did they but learn to write their
own language correctly, or were they
willing to work up subject in the way
that an antiquary or historian is COM
PEELED to do. Nor is it necessary to
speak of painting, wood-engraving,
photography, printing, music-teaching,
or the other emplOyments which are be-
ing resorted to with a fair measure of
success; but few modes of employ
ment whose suitability has still to be
tested by experiment as suggested in
The New ear Book of Woman's Work
which has been lately compiled by Miss
Hubbard. Amongst other things, lady
couriers are proposed. This seems sensi-
bic enough, as in an ordinary continental
tour the fine gentleman courier does
nothing for the ladies whose pockets he
bleeds so profusely, in reward for his
small attentions, which lady could not
do quite as well, and more agreeably if
she were well-read and intelligent She I
would proba bly, travel in the same car
rage with the people she was attending,
and would be pleasant and useful com
panion. Such companions would be in
valuable to the rich young Americans I
who come to rush through Europe and
cram all the information they can in a
hurried tour. 1t is also suggested that
artificial fy-making and the prepare
ton of microscopic objects is pleasant
and remunerative work which can be
done at home, and work which can be
lone at home is always eagerly sought
after.
There are many occupations which
seem to us strangely neglected, and
gardening is one. To person with a ,
small garden in sheltered situation, it :
would be possible, by care and manage ,
nent, to supply flowers to the London
market at times when they are scarce
and costly This could be done with !
very fair remuneration if the business
lid not go through too many hands.
The rearing of fowls can also be made 1
4 very fair speculation by anyone who
will rise at o'clock throughout the
summer mornings and treat the poultry ,
udiciously. So also nice little income
night be made by the sale of eggs by
anyone living in a suitable soil in the
south of England. But in no employ !
nent will ladies succeed until they cease 3
10 be merely amateurs. What they can
and cannot do is very small matter ,
with the question whether :
here is anything which they are willing
% learn to do well. So long as they look I
Upon work as only a sad necessity, and :
consider those employments degrading !
which they describe by the term mental,
10 long shall we have starving gentle q
women Miss Hubbard says, Il trust
t may soon be considered as honorable ,
or a woman to earn her bread as to eat /
t unearned." She considers that when n
alse ideas of gentility shall have been 4
buried and put out of sight, women will 7
pain much by the business habits they
must necessarily learn if they wish to
make a position for themselves which
shall have no flavor of charity about it.
Several employments which promised
we'll do not seem so satisfactory when
.ried. Piano-tuning requires great q
strength of wrist, and must be learnt In r
,ery hot rooms whilst the pianos are in '
course of construction. Dentistry also !
'equires more strength both of wrist and
lerve than women generally possess; so, /
90, we need hardly say, would surgery. i
The telegraph offices are rather disap-
pointing the pay is poor and the work IA
iguing. But there is one thing which ,
las hitherto only been tried on a very
mall scale by women, and that is COM
nerce. There does not seem the slight
st reason why they might not succeed
lere. We have seen well-known nov i
list attending to her husbands business 4
With amazing cleverness and discretion '
when he was laid up with illness. We G
lave heard of a young lady being taken +
nto partnership by her father, who was a