A WORD ON WOMAN’S WORK.
BY A LADY.
While education is doing much to relieve the question of the employment of women of some of the difficulties by which it has been surrounded, there is still great need of further effort ere the three million of women who are compelled to earn their daily bread shall be enabled to do so with anything approaching ease and comfort. Among the newer occupations for the ‘many’—few being as yet able to attain to the height of the professions—are china and card painting; but this market has become overstocked; and it is almost unnecessary to add that only those who are artists in every sense of the word can hope for success, originality of design being as necessary as correct drawing and good finish. Many women are now employed as clerks in insurance and other offices, and the movement has met with a large amount of success. It is to be hoped that this will stimulate others to follow the good example of finding employment for those who earnestly seek it, and such employment as they have proved themselves to be most fitted for. Numbers are employed in the Post-office; but competition is very severe in this branch of industry, and it may be asked: ‘What will become of the already overcrowded ranks of male clerks, if a fresh contingent be admitted?’ The reply, I think, should be: ‘The man has many fields open to him; the woman, few.’
Shorthand writing may yet give employment to many women; the sewing-machine and the knitting-machine are also media for occupations more or less lucrative, but the main object of this article is to draw attention to an invention lately brought to our notice in various ways, ‘the Scientific Dress-cutting’—of American origin—which is being so eagerly taken up by our countrywomen, hundreds flocking to the offices in London to learn the ‘system’—some for the use of themselves and families; others, as a matter of business, intending as they do to become certificated teachers and agents. If any one is anxious or even desirous of seeing earnest workers, let him go to the rooms of the Association and he will be gratified indeed. Perhaps a few words from one who has just spent some days there may not be unwelcome, as many are inquiring about Scientific Dress-cutting.
Arrived at 272 Regent Circus, we are directed up-stairs; and at the top of the first flight we are directed to ascend a little higher, and then we are shown into a small room, where sits a gentleman, who answers questions, receives fees, writes receipts, and finally, courteously conducts us into classroom No. 1. There order reigns supreme. On the walls are the ‘drafts’ to be copied by the pupils, each and all correctly drawn by mathematical square measurement, the calculations being made upon a ‘chart.’ We take a seat, and are soon lost in the mysteries of arriving at the due proportions of a lady’s figure. One pupil looks up with a smile and says, ‘Is it not a fascinating employment?’ another remarks in an under-tone, ‘Well, this is a study;’ while another declares it to be ‘simplicity itself;’ and so the work goes on. The teacher—whose patience is sorely tried sometimes—always seems ready and willing to render the needful assistance, and is kind and considerate alike to all. To our query, ‘How long does it take to learn this system?’ the reply is, ‘Some learn in a few lessons, and some take longer.’ One lady had attended the classes ‘on and off’ for a month, and attributed her prolonged study to the lack of consecutive lessons. But this is not always practicable when ladies live at a distance and have home duties which keep them away for days together.
Before leaving, we are introduced to the secretary, who, like the rest of the inmates of the establishment, until now has been a stranger to us; and as we are introduced, and she raises her bright, cheerful, honest English face, we feel that with her we shall meet with a friend able and willing to advise. When we leave the first classroom, we ascend more stairs, and are ushered into a room where skirts are to be discoursed upon—the ‘short’ to the ‘trained’ skirt being included in the lesson. Here we recognise faces we have seen in the room below; and, as in the other room, we find here also all classes represented—from the young girl who is learning to save the tedium of apprenticeship, to the first-rate dressmaker; and among the ladies, those of small means, who hope by the aid of the system to be better able to make both ends meet at the close of another year; to the lady of ample means, who has come partly out of curiosity, and partly to ascertain whether it is worth while to send her maid to take lessons, that her homemade dresses may in future be sure to fit well. Neither is she the only lady nor the representative of the only class who make at least some dresses at home, for there is scarcely a household where this is not necessary now.
In this room we are measured; and a curious and amusing performance it is, quite different in some respects from the way we should imagine it to be best accomplished; and here we may say that this feat is one of the most important in the whole process. Next to it perhaps stands the treatment of the shoulder. Instruction, as to this is given in the ‘Hints on Dressmaking,’ with other valuable advice, as also on the ‘chart,’ which is part of the machinery sent by post with printed rules for the sum of twenty-two shillings, including the delicately made ‘tracing-wheel.’ But to attend a class for instruction is an advantage scarcely to be estimated by those who have not first tried to master the difficulties by themselves, and then placed themselves in the hands of a competent teacher; and the extra pound charged for the course of lessons is well laid out. There is no hurry; you can stay as long as you please, and will be kindly received; and you will pass on from stage to stage of the study until you are perfectly acquainted with the whole, each ‘draft’ being made separately and in its proper place in the course of lessons. Cutting and fitting are certainly women’s work, and those who have taken up this new branch of industry benefit not only themselves but others.
The advantages of this system over the old plan may be summed up in one word—economy; for it saves time, trouble, labour, and material—time, by its exactitude; trouble, by not requiring fitting or ‘trying-on;’ labour, in the same way, and by having the turnings cut and the stitching-line marked, which serves for a guide for tacking and stitching; and of material, by its method of dividing and cutting. In this way the study soon repays any one for her trouble and outlay; added to which, it is an interesting employment; and many who have not yet left the darkness of the old guesswork method will be surprised that they held aloof so long, when they see how great an advantage it is to work scientifically instead of by ‘rule of thumb.’
There are so many to whom economy is of vital importance, that we can conceive of none to whom this new system does not come as a boon indeed. Even those whose circumstances remove them from the necessity of exercising it themselves, cannot tell what is in the future for their daughters, especially should they leave the old country and go to sojourn in distant lands. Many a father pays what he considers an exorbitant sum per annum in dressmaking. One lady told us it was the case with her, and that was her reason for ‘going in for the new method,’ as she had six daughters; and hers is not an isolated case.
As agents are being appointed in the towns and cities in England and other countries, ladies will in future be saved the journey to London, as they will be able to attend classes in their own neighbourhood, as they do their cookery class. As an agency, the Society has found employment for numbers of women, who, as far as we are aware, are satisfied with the results.