The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-16
FOR FEMININE READERS
SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH EN-
TERPRIsING WOMEN EARN MONEY.
Never Grows RidfcuIous-An
English Club Trouble.


In everyday life everywher one hears of
women who have built up for themselves a
business which means a comfortable living
earned under the home roof, says Ruth
Hall, in Good Housekeeping. One instance
which occurs TO me Is that Of a young
woman whose story was the familiar one Of
being suddenly thrown Oh her own re-
sources. She had no talent of any sort: she
could not sew or cook, and the future
looked ominous. She thought of her only
capability, that of keeping her clothes in
good order. She could make a grease spot
vanish as if by magic, and she could use a
hot iron on a cloth quite as ably as any
tailor.
THE Pressing Club" was an organization
which grew out of this idea The cluo
members were the owners of natty tailored
suits, girls who would rather pay money
than care for their clothes. The fee for
keeping a handsome suit in excellent condi-
ton, sponged, pressed and with unbroken
stitches, was $40 a year. That insured a
visit to the presser twice a month and a
welI-groomed appearance. The work was
all done under the home roof, and now the
young woman who organized the Pressing
OluO S4uplOyS a. SlTOHB-dILlSQ dSSlSldiSs
for club members are many.
L know a young woman who does an ex-
cellent business in framing pictures in
passe-partout style. Every housewife has
an accumulation of pictures she would like
to hang on her walls if expense did not
deter. The passe-partout Trainer turns them
out in neat, pretty style for sums ranging
from % to so cents, and she seldom has a
vacation week. a girl who began to develop
pictures for amateur photographers to keep
the wolf from the door has actually hung
out her single, and a woman who enamels
old furniture finds her business growing
into a lucrative one. A high school GIL
who is preparing for college finds her time
outside school hours fully taken up IN play
ing pro tenn. nursery maid. For 25 cents she
stays two hours at a house where the
mother has no one with whom to leave her
children. During the winter, when the
atrical attractions begin, she is engaged
for weeks ahead. Her task then is usually
an easy one spent in a pleasant sitting
room With a book or her studies, the house
quiet anu the children fast asleep.
In a New York town L knew a woman,
who, like the mother of Beanstalk Jack,
was reduced to selling her last bit of live
stock, a sturdy old horse behind whom she
had travelled hundreds of miles. Jerry was
just being prepared for his last journey
from the old home when an idea struck
49, -
few remaining dollars. The picturesque old
town was filling up with its usual quota
OF summer boarders, and when her adver-
tlSement appeared in the morning paper,
Offering cheap conveyance about the
beautiful hills and shady rvier road, the
dollar brought quick returns. Jerry began
TO earn s. or Sc a day, and the old carry
all doomed out in fresh paint and varniSh.
Nearly every undershirt worn by women
is finished by hand, the narrow edge OF
crocheting in silk or cotton being piece
work. This alone provides employment fol-
many hundreds of women. The factories
which produce ready-made underclothine
give employment to hundreds in button
sewing. Buttonholes can be made on a
machine, but ingenuity has not yet devised
anything TO supersede human fingers ir
sewing on buttons. Hooks and eyes are
stitched on cards by hand, and many of tht
hat factories in Connecticut employ womer
in their own homes to sew ribbons on sailor
hats. A woman who can accomplish the
difficult task of separating gold leaf car
almost anywhere good wage:
and steady employment at home. The ma
jority of the painted novelties one sees OIL
the Christmas bargain counter is done b,
women in piece work, and the artist, i
quick and ingenious with the brush, cal
earn a good income eight months of tn
year in this way. The large potteries O
America employ thousands of women il
: decorating china, although the large
tories. Many linen stores engage womel
to fill orders for monograms to be worke'
l on fine tableclothS and napkins.
r One can glance about them in any com
|, munity, wherever they live, and find in
stances of q woman'S quick ingenuity whel
, prodded by poverty. The unsuccessful
) woman who fritters away a precious mes
q egg and equally precious time in effort
that prove failures may be sure of on
thing. that she has not discovered her on
capability. Excellent bread making is a
fine an art in its own way as painting
, tapestry, and as worthy Of honor and o
payment.