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( 319 )
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XLY—THE DRESSMAKER'S LIFE.
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The following is tlie history of a dress...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
( 319 )
( 319 )
Xly—The Dressmaker's Life.
XLY—THE DRESSMAKER'S LIFE .
The Following Is Tlie History Of A Dress...
The following is tlie history of a dressmaker , —not tlie fictitious history of an imaginary specimen of that class—but a simple
, statement of the facts in a real life . Such a narrative will best illustrate the condition of the class ; for the points in which the
individual differs _from tKe class , as well as those in which she finds herself in the position of the generalitybeing alike faithfull
presented , that condition will be more clearl , y revealed than it could y be by mere general statements .
The narrative was thus communicated : — " At the age of thirteen I was left ; an orphan , in a large and fashionable provincial townin
which I owned not a single relative ; and , owing to circumstances , which need not be entered into , not a single relative owned me in
all the world besides . My mother left something under a hundred pounds , perhaps about eightyand with this slender provision I was
, left to the care of one or two friends , to whom my mother , in her last illness , confided me . This sum was too small to admit of my
being educated for a governess , even of the humblest order , while my fitness for such a career , and its general advantageswere both
matters of doubt to the cautious old ladies who had the determining , of my fate . I write this to shew , that it is not women of the most
indigent class alone who become dressmakers and milliners , but that the class from which they are offcen drawn verges closelon what is
called the educated one , dressmaking being a species of skilled y labor , and requiring some little capital of time and money to start with .
" It was decided then that I was to be a first-rate dressmaker . I was accordingly introduced into a first-class house of business , in which
they received none but well-educated , and perfectly respectable , young people . Twenty pounds were paid for my board the first
year , this sum to diminish yearly , as I grew more useful to my employers , and at the end of three years I was to receive a small
salary . It was a pretty large establishment . Twelve of the girls were inmates , and sometimes as many out-door workers were
employed as improvers , when they paid for admittance and leave to labor , or as paid journey-women when there was a pressure of work .
In these respects it was like similar establishments in great towns _, and in the metropolis . In respect to its arrangementsit was
, superior to most . The busy season—different from the London season , for it began in Octoberand lasted well nih through the
, g winter and spring—was just commencing when I entered on my engagement .
" But so much was new to me in the situation , so varied were the characters that attracted my quiet observation , and perhaps
so saddened was my mind by recent bereavement , that I did not at first feel the deprivation of my liberty ; and * without murmuring '
crossed the threshold of our prison only on Sabbath morning , to
return , at a stated hour on the same evening , for another six days'
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1858, page 319, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071858/page/31/
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