Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-07
TIE WOMEN.
FACTS CONCERNING THEIR FASH.
IONS AND THEIR yANITIES.
Needie-Women OF England and
America-Ladies in London
Dress and Morals.

Needie-Women OF England and
America-Ladies in London
Dress and Morals.
The condition of needle-women, by
which term is meant plain sewers, dress
makers helpers and the like, is sorry
enough in any country, but their rights
and wrongs are only vaguely understood
by the great majority. Most people are
| ignorant of the daily life of their working
contemporaries, and very few persons are
ever afforded an opportunity of extending
their information on this point by actual
observation. A woman may know some
thing of those employed in her own house,
or of those who work in their own homes.
but she can learn nothing of the great
army who spend the larger portion of their
waking hours in work-rooms. On this ac-
count a brief digest of an article on this
subject in the Woman's World will be of
interest. The story told is of a successful
needle-woman-a shirt-maker-who was,
moreover, blessed with good health. In
England, as in this country, the entire
making of fine white shirts is not intrusted
to women. They only make certain por-
| lions of them at so much dozen, and
there, as here, they are paid according 10
the work accomplished, and meanwhile
| the employer claims the disposal of the
entire working day, regardless of the
| amount of work DONE 1t can readily be
understood at what a disadvantage the
worker is thereby placed. Work may be
slack or the foreman may be slow
in giving it out, thus entailing the
the course of the day. Under the
ployers; on the piece-work plan the en-
ployed are the losers. At the prices paid
in England it must be an extraordinary
rapid and skillful needle-woman who can
make, even when constantly employed, an
average of 81 a week. The great majority
earn only from 81 to 81 90 per week, and
this is in the best shops, which send out
fine work, so that it is hardly possible to
estimate how low their pay may descend.
How is it possible for a girl who must de-
pend upon such wages as this to live the
life of decent human being, properly
housed, fed and clothed?
To return to the successful shirt-maker
of the story. She began her business of
plain sewing the year of the Crimean war
at six shillings week and her tea, work
ing from in the morning until at night,
and living on bread and treacle. But She
got on because Of her sturdy health pa
thence and perseverance, and after awhile
(some years. became 80 expert that il .iIc
j /, 4 !.
During all the twelve years of her married
life, during the infancy of her three chill
dren, during winter and summer, year in
and year out, she worked on, and now in
her widowhood she still works to feed and
clothe herself and her little family, with
| no hope of anything better this side of the
grave. And she is spoken of as success
full needle womanl Heaven help the I'M
successful onesl
Things are scarcely better in this coun-
try, and when one takes into consideration
the higher cost OF wearing apparel and of
living, there seems reasonable room to
doubt if the English needlewoman is not
| better off than her sister on this side of the
Atlantic. Here very little work is done
by hand, but in the best manufactures
| only skilled mechanics are employed, and
these are paid about S. week; or, if paid
by the piece, an accomplished worker will
| sometimes make triie more. Very many
do not make so much. Button-holers are
a little better paid. And these are the
highest wages earned under the most
favorable conditions. 1t is not probable
chat any employers can pay more under
| present conditions, and it is certain that
the majority pay less.
All in all, it is safe to estimate that the
skilled needlewomen of the world earn on
an average less than 50 week Aud be-
| yond these there is a great fringe of in
| competent, careless workers, of whose
yearly earnings it is impossible to make
any calculation.
Sad as this state of affairs appears, there
seems to be no remedy for il. Women bid
against each other for these places of hard
work and poor pay. As often as one falls
out another is ready to step in, and thus
the ranks are ever kept filled The only
| thing that may be done TO ameliorate their
wretched condition is to see that the rooms
in which they spend their days shall be as
comfortable and healthful as possible
The philanthropist will have work enough
to do to bring about this resUlt-Phlta-
delphia Record.
| LADIES IN LONDON.
Truth is to be found at the bottom of the
well, and also very often in the columns of
| London Truth, whence comes this truthful
description
A little lady, whose coloring was as
lovely as her figure, wore quite delicious
gown of pale-blue tulle and blue and silver
brocade, with Venetian collar of pearls
and silver. She carried fan of glorious
pink roses, and wore one IN the bodice of
her gown. liked very much a dress in
a wide stripe of palest gray and fawn. 1t
was so well made that the train left moth
ing to be desired in point of grace, and
was easily manageable in the convolutions
of the squares" And, oh how glori-
ously the Nineteenth Lancers played,
Amy, dear! The band was empowered
upon a platform under giant palms, their
round, white caps looking quite tropical
beneath the greenery. There was a room
devoted to photo. raphy, and all who chose
could have their portraits taken by cleo
tricity. In an alcove sat Sybil, who told
fortunes to those who applied to her. The
whole thing was very well managed, es-
pecially the supper, which was excellent
A few of the dresses were extremely
short in front. This is always ungraceful,
even when the feet are very small, well
shod and well shaped. There was one girl
whose gown was quite six inches off the
ground In front and at the sides, though it
hung in little train at the back Her
outline, with a large cushion at her waist
and her skirts dipping below it, was exact
ly that of a turkey mean live one,
with the feathers on. An older lady wore
her gown very short, too, showing shoes
with immense monograms upon them. |
do not like monograms on shoes. Doyou
forgot to tell you last week that when
we were walking up Regent street on the
day of the drawing-room we saw crowd
round Won der Weyde's studio and con-
cluded that the people were attracted by
seeing the ladies arriving to be photo
graphed in their court gowns When we
reached the place, however, we found the
center Of attraction was an humble four
wheeler, the whole of the inside of which
was pinned over with sheets of clean
white paper In this had evidently ar
rived some drawing-room dame who, like
Mistress Gilpin, having frugal mind, had
| ingeniously managed to combine the clean