Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-01-28
TEACHING SEWING
YOUNG WOMEN SHOW BUYERS OF
MACHINES HOW TO USE THEM.

An Occupation which Has Grown Up
Within Few Years-Every Sewing
Machine Headquarters Now Employs
Girls Who DO Nothing but Teach.
The sewing machine teacher is an indis-
pensable adjunct of the sewing machine
Office. She i invariably young woman.
You seldom hear of her, it is true, unless
you have bought new machine and want
TO learn how to use some of its new and III
tricate at attachments. Yet there are several
thousand of her in Gotham. Prom fifteen
! to a hundred teachers are employed in each
office, according TO the business done.
Her work consists in following up every
machine sent out either on trial or sold on
the insta lmenu plan. Her work is partly
TO teach its uses, partly to see that it IL
properly cared for and that it has not been
taken on rial with no intention Of buying.
and simp y because the family had some
sewing To do and saw chance to do it
/ without laying for the use Of the machine.
| As yet no statistics have been gathered
! about the sewing machine teacher. She
/ has not even attracted the attention OF any
Of the numerous societies which devote
! themselves To investigating the working
! girl. The sewing machine teacher Is one
Of the newer Of the four hundred or more
occupations into which women have en-
! tered in the past three decades.
IL is also che in which women have =
monopoly Except in the case of heavy
/ factory III lchines, all the teachers are of
| the gentler sex. She has some interesting
experiences too.
/ HEE DUTIES.
At s in the morning she is expected to
| be at the rOmpany's office There she re-
ports the number Of places where she
called the day previous, how long she spent
/ in each p ace what sort Of care is being
/ given the machines, If it he a machine
/ placed on rial, whether the party is likely
/ to buy OF not, or whether they have lust
| got it because they want the use of it for
nothing. Then she is given "A list of new
machines sent out in her district. 1t is
nearly 9 o clock when she starts out. She
| is expected to call in twenty or thirty
places before quitting work at o'clock.
As matter of fact she manages TO give
seventeen or eighteen lessons on an average
each day
Her salary is not an exorbitant one,
| though she seldom complains of it. She
certainly j. better of than the factory or
salesgirl. She must he able to speak two
languages N least. In the up town districts
English and German are Indispensable.
Down town, English and German and abil.
ity TO max herself understood to the ItaI-
ians and Russians OF the sweat shops are
requisite.
As a rul, q girl takes up the role Of sew
ing machine teacher when She is between
seventeen iud twenty years old. Usually
she sticks il too. Ia a large up town Of
r.r'ss hoe
thirteen years in the business. She re-
ceives a III AIRY Tor her work. and in adj
ditIoH i given an agents commission for
all the machines sent out on trial which
shesucceet IN selling. She Hikes the work.
and considers herself pretty well fixed
| Her estimate of her earnings gives an
( average Of twelve dollars a week
The beginner Is given six dollars week.
This Is increased gradually if she seems
/ likely to be a successful teacher for there's
IA knack al out teaching the intricacies Of
Gusset and seam as well as in every other
trade, unit the maximum salary of nine
dollars i reached. Some OF the teachers
become very expert in their knowledge of
| the machines, and are IL capable Of taking
them apart and repairing them as the ma
chinist who constructed them.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GOOD.
The sewing machine teacher has some
interesting experiences in the rounds of her
work. She gets Il knowledge Of life miser-
able and poor life usually, and an insight
into the home life Of the poor, strange Gus
toms and general human nature that she
could acquire no other way. 1t requires n
certain amount of philosophy, too, to make
her a successful teacher. As likely as not
her first ass ignment will be to dark and
dreary bacI room in a tenement house
where poor mother is trying to support
her little ones making clothing for the
stores. She has bought sewing machine
with newer Improvements. with which she
| hopes to accomplish more.
The sewing machine teacher must in all
probability listen to the whole story And
if she be at all sympathetic, and the woman
is unable to keep mp her installment and
loses both new and old machines the oc-
cUrrence Is apt to have a depressing effect
Or she may have TO 20 to Il sweat shop
where every thing is uvercrowded and gen
orally diSagreeable. Or. again. it is a quiet
pleasant Ii tie home nest where Il little
woman is anxious to help the strong right
| arm by doing her own sewing at home
Yet the many contrasts, the heartrend-
ing tales and the contact with hard. nm
lovely poverty seldom makes the sewing
machine teacher unwomanly or bitter
'7he II J'ilE- happy sympathetic WOm-
an with great well OF thankfulness in
her heart because her own lot is so much
easier than some OF hers
Sometime she makes good use Of her
powers Of observation. and the results
make startling little stories. For news
paper woman there is nothing like the oc-
cupation of the sewing machine teacher rs
a means of gaining useful knGwledge-
New York News
ems About shoes.
Evening shoes are more often than not