The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-06-10
Occupation for Women in New York.

In the city or suburbs we find women
employed in staining and enameling
glass; in making glass signs; in cutting
ivory, pearl and tortoise-shell; working
in gutta-percha, gum-elastic and hair;
making willow-ware and cane chairs;
feeding printers presses and setting
type; making and packing candles;
mOlding tablets of water-colors: assist
I ing in the manufacture of chemicals and
works; making clocks. cnameling
dials and painting the cases; finishing
Z backgammon boards; makingan dress
! inc dolls and toys; stitching the cloths
and making the pockets of billiard
tables; painting the handles of brooms
I and weaving Irvine into netting; max
/ inc paper collars and Irvine; furnishing
/ iewelrv and making buttons. There are
I about five hundred millinery houses
| in the city. employing over two
/ thousand milliners, and the manufact-
: ure of straw hats engages several thou
/ sand women in weaving the braid, sew
/ ing and bleaching. The artificidl-flower
trade employs about four thousand
women, many of them French, and it is.
as lucrative to adept hands as any other.
/ The manufacture of hoop-skirts is said
I To engage over ten thousand women.
who spool the cotton, weave the tape
and cover the steel; and the cap trade
/ gives employment to many more thou
sands, whose earnings vary from three
to five dollars a week. The weaving
of hair cloth is also done by women,
the packing of confectionery and the
making Of shoe "uppers.'
Some OF these occupations, and 9TH
ers to which we have not referred, are
dangerous to the operatives, not mere
lv from the long hours of toll, the in
sufficient food and the lack of proper
ventilation in the workshops, but from
the nature of the materials and the
manner of fabrication. The artificial
flower makers, the gOld-leaf workers,
the button-gilders, the cigar-makers,
| and the lucifer- match makers also suf-
fer from the nature of their occupation.
In large manufactures of artificial
flowers the ventilation is usually suffi-
cient, and precautions are taken to pre-
vent the inhalation of poisonous colors.
But nearly all the brilliant leaves are
made in the artisans own home, back
room or an attic devoted to all the pur-
poses of existence, and the arsenic that
produces the spring-like vividness of
color is diffused in the atmosphere and
absorbed by the system. The fabric
from which the leaves are cut is cOlOred
in the piece, Paris Green, cold water
and starch or gum-arabic being used
for the purpose. This liquid is spread
by the fingers over lengths of fine cali
co or muslin, which are afterward beat
en- or kneaded by hand until they have
an even tint. They are then spread out
in frames to dry, and are next cut and
shaded, the final process being their
immersion in warm wax, and the re-
moval of any loose color upon them.
The detached particles float in the air
and are inevitably inhaled by the work
ers, whose handkerchiefs are speckled
with dots of green blown out through
the nose. Another operation, techni-
cally known as "grass-wOrk," consists
in the fastening of small glass beads or
:" dew-drops' to the artificial blades,
which dislodges portions of the color
and leads to its inhalation. The cOnse-
quences are variable. When the per-
sons employed are cleanly in their hab-
its, and keep their windows open, an
occasional headache or an attack of dys-
pepsia is the most they suffer; but in
other cases all the symptoms of arse
nical poisoning are revealed in erup-
tons of the skin, nausea, collie and gen
eral debility.
In gliding metal buttons, mercury
and nitric acid are used, producing
their characteristic diseases; and in
making lucifer matches the work-women
sometimes contract the terrible disease
which is technically described as ne
crosis of the maXillary bones, many eases
of which have been treated at Bellevue
Hospital. In the preparation of gold
leaf the substance is so fragile and
buoyant that the doors and windows are
necessarily kept closed, and the air of
the wOrk-rOoms becomes very impure.
But the women who suffer most from
the character of their occupation are the
cigar makers, who, mingling with men,
boys and children, toll many hours a
day for five or six dollars week. living
in an atmosphere surcharged with dust
and fumes that would make the most
inveterate smoker sick. Part of the
work is done in factories, but most of
it is done in the dwellings of the opera
tives, and in neither is any attention
paid to ventilation or cleanliness. Grow
ing girls at the verge of womanhood
suffer in many ways and are as much
under the influence of tobacco as a con-
slant smoker. Their faces are pale and
their eyes are dead; stupor Overcomes
them: their nerves are unsettled and
their lungs are diseased in nearly every
case. -WIIIianp H. RidetH1. in HnrDe1's
for June.