People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-12-23
WOMENWHO SELLTEA
GENTLEWOMEN OF DISTINGUISHED
BIRTH IN BUSINESS.

! Forfeit Their Social Position II A"0S
! Engage In Trade-How the Ladies' Tea
| Company of London Manages.
| A gentlewoman in search OF an income
! furnishes a complex situation. FossesSAnS
| the inherited belief that repose Is her eS-
sential element, she yet faces the necessity
TO act. so that vnry extremes have met.
| The position is tragic, and none the less SO
that it is the result of an artificial training.
Tt has been curiously observed OF late
| that the English gentlewoman Is moro
ready to go into trade than the American
woman of breeding is. This may or may
not be because of the greater certainty OF
| social position here. When woman IN
heriting title runs millinery shop she
does not by her act forfeit her title or the
| respect due to it, whereas with us soclaA
position in the fashionable world CANNOT DO
maintained without money, which IL
woman keeps shop obviously she IS WITH
out.
However it is, English women of birth
and culture have distinguished themselves
in trade so far as to make the tendency
quite worth remarking, and their ex-
perience worth the consideration OF our
own gently bred women who need to earn
living.
With us women of advantages turn by
choice to mental occupations the school
room being the great resource. In New
York city alone there are numbers or
lovely women, members of old families or
generations Of refinement, who, with the
natural shrinking from trade given them
by their training, are dragging out I'M
satisfactory lives as teachers IN private
schools; they are screwed down In salary
by the principals, on the plea of over
supply of teachers, to scarcely enough TO
keep body and soul together.
The attention of such women is called to
the ventures of English women in trade,
and especially to an interesting depart
ment which / am about to describe. 1t
really is worth our women's while To con-
slider whether the apparently superior gen \
tility of the teachers work is worth the
sacrifice of an independent career and pos
sible accumulation of income
The venture OF which l speak is a tea
company controlled and operated by gen
tleWomen These ladies own one-fifth of
large estate in Ceylon, where they grow
| their own tea and so do their own import
ing without any middlemen. They do
their own blending. packing, selling and
all the drudgery incidental to the business.
Their employees are a secretary and a
waitress in the tasting room, both of whom
| are cultivated women.
The company is limited one of seven
shareholders, two of whom act as manag-
! ing directors These directors have mas
tered every detail. of the business with q
thOrOug hness parallel to that required of
! nurse in training school, and you can see
them in the packing room of the establish
ment enveloped in big aprons and caps
! doing up their own paGkages-not an easy
| matter folding pound of tea into the reg
loAS -Srxo
burst out and fly all over just when one
seems to have captured it, and it requires
much practice to do it expertly.
The business Of the company is conducted
in a quiet suite Of rooms, up two easy
flights Of stairs. in Bond street in the midst
of the fashionable shopping district. There
is secretary's office, packing and sell
ing room and a tasting room. Their sales,
which are all retail, are made here to pur-
chasers who come in, and also throughout
the United Kingdom by means of agents,
who are ladies, and to whom they give a
high commission. Indeed, the most xita2,-
fact concerning the com pany is that though
it has been in operation but four months
it now employs sixty Of these agents and is
all but paying it's expenses-a flourishing
condition OF affairs that indicates good
management and profitable market for
tea
Their special brand is the Ceylon raised
by themselves, but they also blend other
teas called for by the market There are
as many flavors as there are tastes for tea
pinch more of Souchong for one; a SOUP
con OF Hyson for anOther-the variation is
endless. Blending requires patience and
experience, and is a skilled work in itself.
but 1t has been accomplished by the ladies,
and the result they have styled ''The La
a 1acJn
three, etc
A charming feature is the pretty parlors.
where any intending customer may taste
his tea before buying it-an advantage the
ordinary grocer does nobs supply. This room
is thrown open to the public for afternoon
|. tea" at small price cup, with bread and
butter. 1t is an odd and delightful ex-
perience to have in public place your
tray brought to you by woman of Gull
ture. If your hand had gone into YOUR
pocket for fee you draw it out again with
disgust at yourself and the world of eatiDns
houses outside that encourages such degra-
dation, and you look with grateful pleasure
at your waitress in her cap and apron and
almost believe that Bellamys millennium
has come.
This, we reflect, is a gentlewoman wait
ing on US for wages-doing it perfectly and
doing it without affectation, as any trained
servant would do.
1t shall be noted, however, that the pol
icy Of the company in employing only
gentleWOmen makes it easier to do such
humble work There is no contact with
anything vulgar; the environment is al
ways refined.
The agents employed by the company
are residents in towns and cities through
out the kingdom. They number among
them woman with title another who ia
an honorable, and many cIergymen's
wives. These ladies do not solicit from
door to door, but they mention the matter
to their friends who are willing to try the
tea, and these mention it to others, and
when such orders are sent in to the tea
company they are accompanied by the .
name Of the agent, or else the agent sends
the order with the customers address. A
fashion with the agents also is to have tea
tasting parties and invite all their friends
and introduce them thus to the tea.
| ask again, in these early days of wou-
ems independent work, why should not
women find the easiest road through trader
Nations have travelled this way, and intel
lectual life has been the resulting crown.
1t is the history of men-why not of wom-
en?-London Cor. Chicago News-Record.
A Graceful Definition of d Mature Maiden,
The Boston Transcript thus gracefully
defines maiden ladies: 'The undelivered