GIRLS’ EMPLOYMENTS.
An Anxious Waiter (Bank Clerkship).—In the Bank of England, and in one or two other banks in London, girls are employed as clerks, but in each case it is necessary for the would-be clerk to obtain a director’s nomination. If you have any relations or friends employed at the Bank of England, or at Messrs. Rothschild’s or Baring’s banks, it would be advisable to make your wish known to them, and to ask whether they could give you an introduction to a director. You write a neat clear hand, which is an important advantage for clerical work. Should you fail in these quarters, you might apply to the Prudential Life Assurance Company, High Holborn. Otherwise we recommend you to work hard at shorthand, type-writing, and book-keeping, as, if you could make yourself really competent in these three branches of work, you would have no difficulty at present in obtaining employment, notwithstanding the melancholy accounts that clerks give of the “overcrowdedness” of their business. The majority of unsuccessful clerks either possess none of the accomplishments we have enumerated, or only possess one or two of them imperfectly.
Yellow Crocus (Qualifications of a Clerk or Secretary).—These are, a clear neat handwriting—yours, by the way, though excellent in other respects, covers rather too much space—impeccable type-writing, rapid shorthand, and, if possible, some knowledge of a modern language. A good general English education ought to be indispensable, and though we cannot say that it is so, it makes the difference between a permanently low salary and promotion. From your letter we infer that you have had a good education; it therefore only remains to study the subjects we have mentioned. Many thanks for your kindly expressed wishes for the future of the “G. O. P.” It is interesting to learn that you, in common with so many of our readers, have derived pleasure from The Girl’s Own Paper since its first appearance.
S. B. F. (Laundry Manageress).—We are glad to see that you corroborate the advice we constantly give to girls to learn the laundry business in all its branches. The vacancy you mention you might try to fill by applying to the Central Bureau for the Employment of Women, 60, Chancery Lane, though it is not always easy, as you know, to find girls possessed of the requisite trade experience. For the benefit of some of our readers we will quote a passage from your letter—“I can assure you on behalf of my colleagues in the trade that there is a great demand for women of fair education, who are sober, trustworthy, and able to take the oversight of the work in laundries. The great failings of nearly all capable laundry manageresses are drink and a low standard of morals, especially as regards honesty; and if a woman of superiority went in for the work, she would never lack a good berth, as all the hard work in laundries is now done by men.” We quote what you tell us with the more satisfaction in view of the statement sometimes made by ill-informed persons that girls are likely to be ousted by men from the laundry trade. The demand for expert and honest laundresses and manageresses was manifestly never greater than it is at present.
Ida (Book-keeping).—If you wish to learn book-keeping by double entry in a thorough manner, you should attend classes at some technical institute in your neighbourhood. Were you living in London, we should advise you to join the Birkbeck Institute, Bream’s Buildings, Chancery Lane, or the Regent Street Polytechnic. Many excellent handbooks have been published on the subject, by the aid of which every determined and persevering girl could master the subject alone; but, of course, lessons in class make the difficulties much more readily surmountable.
Fatherless Lassie (Additional Work).—As your present work consists in taking orders for a business firm, would it not be wiser to increase your utility in this line of work than to supplement your earnings with your needle, as you suggest? In these days it is almost always best to specialise, that is to say, to become peculiarly efficient in some one department of work. Now, if you could make yourself a thoroughly capable clerk, and could master as much about the coal trade, in which you are engaged, as it is in your power to learn, you would have the preference over an inexperienced girl for any better post in a coal order office later. Work hard at book-keeping and type-writing, and attend any good business classes that may be held in your neighbourhood.
Olive (Laundry-Work, etc.).—It appears doubtful from what you say concerning your health whether you would be strong enough for laundry-work; but it is quite certain that intellectual work is too severe for you, and it would be wise to give up the latter at once. We know too many teachers who break down under the strain in middle life to advise any girl to persevere who has already found the profession so trying as you have done. If you attempt laundry-work, you might take a year’s training at some large steam-laundry (such as the London and Provincial Steam-Laundry, Battersea Park Road, S.W.), and afterwards try to start a hand-laundry, or to join someone in such an enterprise. But we fear the regular business of a steam-laundry would prove fully as trying to you as teaching. Consequently the best posts in the laundry business might always be beyond your reach. Dairy-work seems more likely to suit you, together perhaps with some other forms of country occupation, such as the care of poultry. It would be worth considering whether you should not go to the Agricultural College, Reading, unless you could obtain good instruction in some County Council classes in your own part of England.
Muriel (Dressmaking, etc.).—1. Unless you have friends in Paris with whom you could stay, we should not advise you to try to enter a dressmaking firm in that city. It is possible that the Secretary of the Foreign Registry, Girls’ Friendly Society, 10, Holbein Place, Sloane Square, S.W., could advise you in the matter; but probably the best firms might have no vacancy for an English girl, and the less good might prove to be extremely undesirable. It would be far wiser, in our opinion, to apprentice yourself to a London firm, concerning which your relations and friends could make the requisite inquiries.—2. On the subject of voice-production you should inquire of some large bookseller whether a volume was not published by the late M. Emile Behnke, who was a great authority. We think you will find that such a book exists.
Another Anxious Mother (Dispensing).—This occupation offers fair chances of a livelihood to a girl, as not only are medical men often willing to employ a woman as dispenser in their private dispensaries, but various hospitals have women dispensers, and there are many localities in which women might establish dispensaries of their own. The Pharmacy Act requires that a pupil should study for three years. The time may be spent either in working under a qualified chemist, or in the dispensary of some institution. Several lady chemists and dispensers now take pupils, and addresses of these could be obtained by applying to the Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society, 17, Bloomsbury Square, London, or to the Secretary, London School of Medicine for Women, Arundel Street, W.C. The total expense of the course, including apprenticeship and examination fees ranges from £100 to £130. In this estimate board and lodging are not, of course, included. Your daughter would probably be advised to wait a year or two before beginning the course, as she is still so young.