GIRLS’ EMPLOYMENTS.
South Africa (Agency for Lady Housekeepers).—A list of respectable employment agencies has been compiled by the Associated Guild of Registries, and may be obtained from the publishers, Messrs. Gardner, Darton & Co., 44, Victoria Street, S.W. You could apply to any of the registries mentioned in that list with entire confidence. But the point to remember is this, that no agency can promise to find situations which are very scarce and desired by a vast number of people, such, for instance, as the post of lady housekeeper you mention. If you would undertake the duties of a working housekeeper or working matron, it is probable you would easily find employment, and would not then have cause to complain that registry-office keepers take fees and do not provide work.
Dum Vivimus Vivamus (Employment for Part Time).—This is always exceedingly difficult to obtain, and, for this reason, employers who only want part of a person’s time usually pay at a higher rate than they otherwise would do, knowing that it is difficult for a girl to fill up the other half. You think of employing the three days of the week that are left free in copying letters and addressing envelopes. But this we cannot counsel, such work being both scarce and miserably paid. But, living as you do tolerably near Norwich, it seems to us that it would be far better for you to engage regularly and for all your time in one of the industries of that city. Some girls are employed at a large circulating library and printing works, and this kind of occupation might suit you. Then there are some electrical organ works in Colegate Street, where girls who have deft fingers and are well educated can sometimes find employment of a superior class to that of the principal factories. But Norwich abounds in occupations for girls in connection with its large manufactories, and it is therefore hardly needful to enumerate the many kinds of business which are carried on in that city.
Unsettled (Emigration).—From what you tell us of yourself and your circumstances, we are led to believe that emigration might be a desirable course for you. For a young woman standing alone in the world as you do, the life of a cotton-mill hand is apt to become dreary, whereas in Manitoba you might make friends and interests of your own. The climate, too, cannot fail to prove beneficial to you, and the life will altogether be hostile to the bronchitis from which you now occasionally suffer. Possibly the British Women’s Emigration Association, Imperial Institute, Kensington, London, could arrange for you to go out to Canada with a protected party; and you should make a note of the address of the Girls’ Home of Welcome, 272, Assiniboine Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, for you could be received there and boarded free of charge for the first twenty-four hours after arrival, and doubtless the Superintendent could make some suggestions with regard to your finding employment. You should continue to occupy your evening hours in attending some cookery and laundry classes. April is considered the best month for arriving in Canada. The through fare to Winnipeg is about £7 10s.
Gertrude (Painting Cards, etc.).—The manufacturers of Christmas cards only care to receive designs which they can colour and reproduce in great number. They have no use for hand-painted cards. But as you are wise enough not to insist, like so many girls, on doing work only in your own home, it is quite possible you might obtain employment with either a firm of chromo-lithographers or the highest class of manufacturing stationers. You would be well prepared for the chromo-lithographic business by studying for a time at the Royal Female School of Art, Queen Square, Bloomsbury. In the stationery trade girls are employed, but as they are mainly occupied in tinting the spaces which are afterwards embossed with a crest or monogram, there is not much scope for progress beyond a fixed point. The payment, however, is good in the best establishments, and the work is certainly not arduous.
Laen (Home Work).—They must be very clever and exceptional girls indeed who can earn £2 or £3 a week by work done at home. Promises of such amounts are sometimes held out by advertisements; but inquiry often reveals that the girls who reply are expected to spend something first, and then to await payment, which never comes. It is probably some advertisement of this kind that gives rise to your question.