GIRLS’ EMPLOYMENTS.
Firenze (Dressmaking in Paris).—We fear it would be by no means easy to obtain employment in a Parisian dressmaking firm. The French are not so eager to employ English dressmakers as we in this country are to engage French women. On the other hand, English tailoring is very fashionable in Paris. If you do go to Paris, you had certainly better ask the Girls’ Friendly Society beforehand whether you could be received into the Home at 48, Rue de Provence.
E. W. (Dispensing).—The course of preparation for a dispenser is a long one, and also somewhat expensive. In the first instance you would need to pass the preliminary examination of the Pharmaceutical Society, Bloomsbury Square, London. For this, as you suppose, you would require enough Latin to pass an examination in the first books of Virgil or Cæsar. You would also be examined in arithmetic and in English subjects. Having passed this, you must be trained for three years in a dispensary or chemist’s shop. If you select a dispensary, you might apply to become a pupil at the New Hospital for Women, Euston Road, London, or at the Ryde Dispensary, Isle of Wight. A course of study must also be followed either in the Pharmaceutical Society’s classes in Bloomsbury, or in certain other centres of teaching, such as Owen’s College, Manchester. At the end of three years’ training (which, exclusive of board and lodging, would cost about £70), you would take the Minor Examination. The Major Examination is usually only taken by those persons who wish to set up shops as pharmaceutical chemists.
RULES.
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III. The Editor reserves the right of declining to reply to any of the questions.
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V. No more than two questions may be asked in one letter, which must be addressed to the Editor of The Girl’s Own Paper, 56, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.
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N. L. and Ma Belle (Hospital Nursing).—You will need to wait till you are twenty-one before you can be admitted to any hospital, and the majority of hospitals demand that probationers shall be not less than twenty-three. At twenty-one you might possibly be admitted to the Chelsea Infirmary, or to one or two of the children’s hospitals. You should address your application to “The Matron, —— Hospital.” An infirmary is to be recommended in cases where girls are not able to pay to be trained, but require to earn something from the first. It may be worth while to add that a large infirmary is being erected in connection with the Bethnal Green Union, and there will be openings in it for a certain number of probationers.
E. D. H. B. (Telephone Service).—You are unfortunately too old to enter the service of the National Telephone Company. The limits of age for clerks entering the service are from seventeen to nineteen. A doctor’s certificate is necessary, and girls must be not less than 5 ft. 3 in. in height. Altogether it is clear that you must turn your attention to some other occupation. Much walking or standing would probably not be advisable for you. Some sedentary work, such as millinery or dressmaking, would seem to be preferable if you could do it.
May (Post Office Clerkship).—You ask whether it is better for your future to enter as a girl clerk between the age of sixteen and eighteen, or as a woman clerk between eighteen and twenty. The general opinion is that it is decidedly better to enter as a girl clerk. The vacancies for women clerks that are thrown open to competition, become fewer in proportion as girl clerks are promoted to fill them. We have never heard that copies of questions set in past examinations were published regularly; but specimens are, we believe, sometimes given in the handbooks of Civil Service coaches. If you attended classes at the Birkbeck Institute you would probably be taught all that is requisite for the examination.
Tulip (Kindergarten Teaching).—Had you not expressed an unwillingness to come to London, we should have advised the Froebel Institute, West Kensington, as one of the best places in which to be trained for Kindergarten work. But since you do not wish to leave your home near Cheltenham, we would suggest that you inquire whether training could be given to you at the Kindergarten which exists in connection with the Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Otherwise we know of no place in your neighbourhood where a young teacher could be trained.
Masseuse (Registry Office Wanted).—A registry is carried on by the Society of Trained Masseuses, 12, Buckingham Street, Strand. You should apply to the Secretary, and give at the same time a full account of your qualifications as a Swedish masseuse.
Marie (The Stage).—Your description of your friend is hardly definite enough for us to judge of her chances as an actress. We would recommend her to ask for advice from the Actors’ Association, St. Martin’s Lane, Trafalgar Square. To be “pretty” is a help, no doubt, but it is by no means enough. So many English girls are pretty, or at all events, can look pretty when nicely dressed. It is the aptitude for acting that is all-important. You say that she wishes to learn some instrument; but not the piano or the violin, neither of which she can play. Also that it must be an instrument to which she need not sing. Really we are quite at a loss. We have known a lady play the clarionet, but it is an instrument calculated to prove decidedly “trying” to the appearance of the performer.
Mayflower (Dressmaking).—The Paris firm you mention has no shop in London.
C. J. M. (Starting a Servants’ Registry).—Before starting a registry you should acquaint yourself with the terms usually charged by good registries. It is becoming very much the practice not to charge either servants or employers until an engagement is effected; but then, of course, to make a tolerably high charge, and one proportioned to the amount of wages offered. You should also try to secure the interest of as many ladies as possible, and especially of the wives of country clergy, who are in the way of hearing of girls who desire to enter service. When your registry is established it would be advisable to make application to the Secretary of the Associated Guild of Registries, to have it enrolled upon the list of registries which the Guild recommends. This would be considered a guarantee of your registry’s bonâ fide character. The Associated Guild may be addressed, care of the Girls’ Friendly Society, 39, Victoria Street, Westminster.