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    318 WOBK AND WAGES OF WOMEN IN FEANCE.

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    »— The World Seems Now Astir. Many Are L...

    water-carriers , gaily decorated with ribands , and in the evening the Next floating morning " wash houses 1 labour of the is Seine as quietl are y metamorp resumed hosed as if into s it b had all rooms never .

    , been interrupted . Washerwomen earn 2 s . 3 d ., sometimes ( _though seldom , ) 25 . 5 d . a day . The best ironers get 25 . 5 _^ d ., plain ironers

    2 s . 3 d . per day . Their day is fourteen hours , out of which they get an hour and a half for rest— -their employers give them a daily

    4 C glass of spirits . " We pass on now to the needlewomen .

    In Paris alone there were said to be in 1851 , 60 , 000 needlewomen this estimatelarge as it may seemdoes not come up to

    the truth ; for there , is a great multitude of , uncounted workers . In 1847 , the average wages of the needlewomen were found to ,

    be Is . _4 \ d . per day ; for those working at their own homes the average wages Is . 2 \ d . for those working at the shopIs . Sd .

    There is much the same , story of slop-work in Paris as , in London . The women who work at slop-work starve while they slave , whereas

    the women who do " piece-work" for the tailors , if clever workers , can earn from 3 s . _4 d . to 4 s . 2 d . per day . Tailors who make to measure

    pay from 3 s . 4 d . to 5 s . for the making of a waistcoat , out of which must be deducted 5 d . for silk , & c , found by the worker ; a clever

    workwoman can make a waistcoat in a day . The ready-made shops ivefrom Is . 3 d . to 2 s . 3 d . for the making of a waistcoat , which

    waistcoat g , also takes a day to make _; deduct from , this sum 2 \ d . for cotton , & c . The shops which export their goods give a maximum

    sum of Is . 0 \ d . each for the making of a waistcoat , and a minimum sum of 7 _% d . from which we must deduct Id . for cotton , & c . A

    , worker at this class of garments can get through three waistcoats in two daysthereby securing a clear profit of S _^ d . a day .

    Upholstery , employs a great number of sempstresses . The regular fixed pay for these women is Is . _1 \ d . a dayand Is . 8 d , if they

    , have work to do which demands that they should stand to do it . Making allowance for the slack seasonthis branch of work ,

    , which is thought to be one of the best , scarcely affords the means of subsistence to the women who follow it .

    Clever glovers who can work without any interruption , may make four pairs of gloves a day , and so earn a daily wage of Is . 2 d ., from

    which some slight deduction must be made for lighting . Ordinary workers make two pairs and a half a day , thereby earning _7 \ d . per

    day , whilst in Aveyron , Haute-Marne , and Isere , much smaller wages are given . To gain anything like an adequate sum for

    subsistence , the French glovemaker must be a woman who can work regularlywho has no children to call her offno domestic duties to

    attend to , she must never be illand never out , of work . Next we , must speak of the , broderie trade . Parisian designs

    carry the palm , but they are speedily caught up and imitated . The perfection of embroidery on muslin depends on the elegance of

    patte rn , but the perfection of the work itself depends on the quality

    318 Wobk And Wages Of Women In Feance.

    318 WOBK AND WAGES OF WOMEN IN FEANCE .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 318, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/30/