BY VIRGINIA PENNY. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY WALKER, WISE, & COMPANY, 245 WASHINGTON STREET. 1863. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by VIRGINIA PENNY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TO WORTHY AND INDUSTRIOUS WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES, STRIVING TO EARN A LIVELIHOOD, This Book IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR....

It is very easy to obtain book after book on "The Sphere of Woman," "The Mission of Woman," and "The Influence of Woman." But to a practical mind it must be evident that good advice is not sufficient. That is very well, provided the reader is supplied with the comforts of life. But plans need to be devised, pursuits require to be opened, by which women can earn a respectable livelihood. It is the great want of the day. It is in order to meet that want that this work has been prepared. The few em

The great, urgent, universal wants of mankind, in all classes of society, are food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. After these come the comforts and luxuries pertaining to the condition of those in easy circumstances. Above and beyond these animal wants, but of nearly equal importance, are those relating to the mind—written and printed matter, oral instructions, as lectures and sermons, and the handiwork of the fine arts. These, in addition to health, freedom, and friends, comprise the greatest bl

Professional Women. Artists. Those in Mercantile Pursuits. Employments pertaining to Grain, Birds, Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables. Raisers, Makers, Preparers, and Disposers of Articles of Food. Textile Manufacturers—Cotton, Linen, Woollen, Silk, Lace. Metal Manufacturers—Iron, Brass, Steel, Copper, Tin, Britannia, Silver, Silver Plating, Bronze, Gold. Miscellaneous Workers on Indian Goods, Inkstands, Lithoconia, Marble, Mineral Door-Knobs, Paper Cutting, Papier Maché, Pipes, Porcelain, Pottery,

There will be openings in St. Louis and Chicago for fur sewers. There has been a demand for mill girls in Rhode Island. [Pg 487] [Pg 488] There is a surplus now of workers in cotton mills, but not of operatives in woollen mills. A gentleman in Middletown, Conn., wrote me a boarding house for work girls is wanted there. Makers of ladies' dress caps and ironers of new shirts have been scarce in New York city....

A Some, employed in painting church windows, get $2....

Employed in the thirteen groups of industrials , 112,891 women; 7,851 girls, of whom 869 were under 12—rest from 12 to 16. To every two men employed, one woman. Women more numerous than men in the manufacture of garments and materials for them. None employed in the laborious occupations. Equal in fancy wares. Highest wages of women per day, 20 francs, least 15 centimes—average, 1 franc 63 centimes. Extremely low salaries are exceptional. Thus only two were so low as 15 centimes, and one of these