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    WORK AND WAGES OE WOMEN IK ERANCE. 319

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    of the cotton used in working . * There are others who embroider besides the Frenchand they do it at a cheaper rate and with finer

    cotton . Most of the , French embroidery is done with cotton that is too coarse . In Switzerlandthe cotton is found by the employer .

    , This is not the case in France , and , consequently , the French brodiste buys cotton which is coarser than the sample , because it

    takes up more space , and so the work is more quickly done . The French brodistes do not know the manufacturer ; they work

    for him through the medium of a contractor , or _" middleman /' whom they look on as an enemy , and so do their tasks without

    feeling any interest in their work or their employer . On the other handthe day on which the work is taken back is a fete-day at St .

    Gall . , From early morning the young workwomen may be seen coming in from all parts , dressed in their best . After Mass , they

    assemble in a large room , around a long table , where they are helped to a glass of white wine . They sing a hymn , while the

    manufacturer walks round the table , looks at the work each one has broughtand pays for it . Any dispute which may arise between

    him and , them , is referred to an umpire who is seated in an adjoining room . When all the work has been looked over and removed ,

    the manufacturer throws a heap of fresh work on the table , and each irl chooses what suits her . The master then niakes a

    memorandum g of what she has chosen , puts the price agreed on against it , and names the day when the work is to be brought in . These

    women are very industrious , and even obstinate in working * . They are exceedingly frugal in their habitsand are therefore satisfied

    , with very small pay . The manufacturers here are at less expense , because their patterns are all copied . The pieces of embroidery are

    slightly sewn together , so as to be washed by the yard , instead of by the ieceand on the washing they save in this way as much as

    50 per p cent , . They offer their work at a much lower rate than the French . Hand-wrought work is so cheap in Saxony that one

    wonders how the brodis fe can live at all . These facts account for the depressed condition of the French

    brodistes . * A very few , among those who are employed in embroidering coats of arms , can earn as much as 2 s . or 35 . a day .

    There are but two at present in Nancy who are making that sum . the The rest cleverest are obli workers ged to can be onl satisfie y earn d from with Is 9 _^ . d Qd . . a to day 2 s . . per Ordinary diem ;

    embroidery work does not bring in more than 2 \ d . an hour . And then , this class of work , be it well paid or underpaid , brings with

    it the most terrible fear , for it threatens to ruin the worker ' s sight . Againwith any change of fashiona quantity of work is often left

    on the , employer's hands , and , in , order to diminish his own losshe often throws it back on the hands of the poor worker ,

    , * In the Exhibition of 1855 a house in _Kancy which had sent 2 several the hi col hest lars

    price made £ 2 10 s . same pattern , the lowest price of was s . 11 */ ., g

    Work And Wages Oe Women Ik Erance. 319

    WORK AND WAGES OE WOMEN IK ERANCE . 319

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 319, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/31/