The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-11-09

/ IN the home II IS the gentle touch,
the accomplishing attendance, the soft
voice and the comforting presence OF
a woman trained in the duties of
ministering to the sick that assists re-
| covery as much as medicine. The
| makes a good deal of money, but she
is never overpaid. Many of the florists
/ are Hawaiians, who cultivate their
flowers in Nuuanu Valley, fashion them
| into wreaths and bouquets and sell
them on the sidewalks of Hotel street
| They conduct a lucrative business in
a community where the custom of
| wedding, reception and dinner func-
tons demands liberal decorations. Up
on the departure of voyagerS to the
mainland, the Colonies or the Orient a
great quantity is always required for
offerings to friends Besides the native
| women, who are very industrious in this
trade, there are white women who grow
| the choicer varieties of flowers and sell
them at their gardens or in stores.
Plants OF different kinds are involved in
their business. Stenographers and type
writers in Honolulu as elsewhere see
their ranks growing constantly. The
commercial class are always seek
ing them and the demand is never sup
to $3.50 per month, the lady who is
expert in taxing shorthand notes and
transcribing by the machine receiving
the maximum figure. 1t is nerve
racking, morotonous task in most any
office; the hours are from a. m to
5 p m, excepting the luncheon hour,
and when the whistle sounds a surcease
of toll the poor girl IS as tired as the
chief clerk or manager who has been
debating dreary business letters. The
telephone operators must give their I'M
divided attention to their work, refrain
from noticing impertinent remarks of
subscribers and be satisfied with nominal
wages. Twenty-elght women earn their
living by CONDUCTING boarding and lodg-
lighthouses, where homes are made for
quite number of mechanics and clerks
The several neutrality-suspicious., hospitals
and charitable institutions have their
domestic departments cared for by %
matronS. who have much responsibility
in exercising their duties. In the pub
fishing establishments there are Fl Port
uguese and Hawaiian girls doing book
binding and folding. They are well ac-
complished in their trade. Bookkeeping
and the custody of store receipts are
trusts in which ri bright young women
are engaged. There is always call
for more in this profession. There are
laundries and laundr;es and the best
kind are those where the work is not
done by Cinnamon. In all this com
munity of $4,000 people there are only
81 women, Europeans and f1awallanS,
who wash clothes for a living. They
get the cream of the trade, to be sure
and probably do not solicit the hard
washing of general households. After
IL g
properly a wonlans work. Masculine
muscle is the real thing needful, just
as much as IN scrubbing floors. A few
women with an inclination for trade
have established stores, where light
wares such as Hawaiian curios, fancy
goods, confectionery and groceries are
sold In this country of sunshine, rain
bows and flowers, soft atmosphere,
grand mountains and seascapes and
glorious moonlight nights it is no
wonder that Euterpe has many votaries.
1t is the land of music, where almost
every household has a piano, mandolin,
guitar or violin The culture of the
art is general and IL ladies find all
they can do in giving vocal and instru
mental instruction. Half a dozen
public and private Libraries. The Sal
lulu II wears and always had about five
women in its ranks. Every one knows
that the life of this organization rests
largely in these lovab1e, Christian
women, whose singing draws people to
its meetings in street and hall and
whose ministrations among the poor and
lowly do the real good for which the
Army was originally instituted. Ply
sicians, artists, lacenakers, bakers. hair
dressers, organists and others make the
few remaining members of the working
class.
There is an exception, however, to
the last statement. Every housekeeper
knows that quite a number OF Portu-
guese and Hawaiian girls make their
living in the domestic service, though
difficult to determine Perhaps there are
200, not enough by far to go around
among all the families in the city.
Kitchen and general house work is large
ly performed by Cinnamon and Japanese
men and women. Some of these can
cook and most of them cannot. The
lady of the house, if she is particular
about her table, often goes into the
kitchen and oversees things there her
self unless she can afford to pay first
class Chinese steward So week.
this luxury is beyond her means ana
her culinary education has been neg
lected she is to be pitied. Some Amer
lean ladies who are not even satisfied
with the best Chinese talent have been
heard to exclainl. 20, for some trust
worthy German, Irish or Swedish girl
But the INTELLIGENT white girl entertains
a false notion that she is placed on a
social plane with Oriental domestics II
she does the same work they do. This
presumption is hard to eradicate. 1t
is pity that such a respectable calling |
as cooking. washing and keeping the
home in order should be called mental
one and avoided by the masses of young |
women who are obliged to labor for a
living. Perhaps the mistresses, who |
are sometimes tyrannical and overbear-
ing, are RESPONSIBLE for the ill-favored |
reputation of this service.
NC,11o.1'c H.a1H ic a1,Io The l1b0rS \