237. Horticulture.—Here is an example of what a California woman can do. A widow having four boys purchased thirty-six acres of land in San Jose, and under her personal care, aided by her boys, planted the tract with apricot, cherry and prune trees. For four years she did all the pruning, a difficult task for a refined and delicate woman, accustomed as she had been to luxuriant ease. Her prune trees alone netted $2,700 in one year.
238. Vocalists.—A lady with a good voice is certain of making a living, some have made fortunes with it. The demand is wide and various. If your taste does not incline to the stage, there is still a large field in the church. All large churches, and many small ones now, have paid choirs. The leading vocalists are commonly well paid. There are a great number of altos and sopranos in New York and Brooklyn, and in the fashionable suburbs, who receive $1,000 a year, or an excess of that sum. And this is an excellent compensation when it is remembered that the singer has nearly all her time in which to pursue some other vocation.
239. Packing Trunks.—This is a Paris occupation carried on exclusively by women. You leave your order at the office of the transportation company, and say when you want a professional packer. She comes, and is paid fifty cents, and sometimes $1 an hour for her services. She has genius for folding dresses so that they can be carried all over the world without a wrinkle. She wraps bonnets in tissue paper. She tucks away bric-à-brac in a way that makes breakage impossible. This industry might be introduced profitably into this country.
240. Women Costumers.—Costumes for the stage are now gotten up mostly by men. A woman of taste and ability could make a success of this business. Many rich ladies would consult them in matters of personal wardrobe.
241. Express Office.—A woman can sit in an office as well as a man. One woman in Boston tried it four years ago, beginning in a modest way. Now she has three offices and five teams in constant use.
242. A Fancy Bakery.—An elegant and educated young woman in San Francisco took a dingy, dying little bakeshop, with sickening sights and smells. She put it in order. In two months she had cleared $700, and in four months $1,800. Another woman in Brooklyn has just opened a bakery under very flattering prospects. She works on the plan of exquisite neatness, trimming her windows like those of a fancy goods’ dealer, and wrapping her bread in tissue paper.
243. Women Grocers.—There are not many women in the grocer business, but there is no reason why there should not be. A woman grocer in a Western State who has been established since 1860, has a business worth $80,000 a year.
244. Food and Medicine Samples.—Proprietors of patent medicines and foods will give you a large commission to introduce their inventions into homes, and if successful, you will soon be employed at a good salary. These proprietors often pay ladies to introduce samples at country stores. The storekeeper will give you room rent free for a few days, with the understanding that he alone has the sale of the article in the place.
245. Samples in Stores.—Ladies of tact and good address are receiving fair salaries in the introduction of new articles. Every inventor is anxious to introduce his goods, and every storekeeper is equally desirous to sell. Call upon the proprietor of some new article of household use, secure territory, and then solicit space in a country store. After three or four days in one store you should go to another, or perhaps to the next town. You may have to begin on a commission, but if successful you can soon command a salary.
246. Samples from House to House.—Others find ample remuneration in introducing new articles from house to house. We know a little lady in Brooklyn who is paid well for giving away samples of a new baby food. This is much more pleasant work than that of importuning people to purchase.