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116 A YEAR'S EXPERIENCE.
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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Transcript
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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.
W Nearly A Year Has Now Passed Since, Th...
hardly allow lier to " look like a lady , " much less to live like one . Say that a woman in such a business earns a pound , or possibly ,
thoug the other h I £ imag 75 ine a year rarel ;— y , such 305 a . a salary week may ;—in keep the one a young case , £ sing 50 , le in ,
and and perfectl decent y dress unencumbered and lodging woman 1 ; but of it the does rank not of constitut a lady e in a food suffi- ,
ciency for an older woman , for one who may have claims upon her , or who feels she must begin to lay by for old age . I am
quite aware that there are daily governesses who go out for less than £ 50 a , year ; their proportion is roughly estimated by the
matron of the Governesses' Benevolent Institution as about onethird of the whole number of daily governesses . But many of these
are not what we mean by ladies ; they belong to tradesmen ' s families , and teach in the same ; others again are quite young , and living- with
their parents , can afford to go out and teach for any sum they fancy pays them , and at a much cheaper rate than they could do if they
actually supported themselves on their earnings . Others again are inferior in educationand so are driven down to offer their services
, _at a low rate from being destitute of accomplishments . Custom does not shield the governess as it shields the physician , "with , his
definite standard of acquirement guaranteed by his diploma , and his one guinea as a fixed recognition thereof ; and therefore women ' will
be found classed under the general head of " daily governesses " who are very unequal in their qualifications and in the amount of
salary they require and receive . But it is none the less true , that really educated women , possessed
of a certain skill in music , drawing , and in modern languagesladies such as teach ladies in the professional and merchant
classesask and get more than £ 50 a year as a general rule . The conclusion , therefore , to which I have come is , that it is chiefly for
youngpeople living at home with their parents , and for single women not possessing a high stamp of education , and having only themselves
the to support telegrap , that hprinting the semi- law mechanical -copying arts manag —such ing' as sewing that of -machines working ,
, , , & c . —are profitable , and will supply with bread and meat and clothes ; and that it is highly desirable to extend and _encourag-e
such occupation in every way , taking great care in the formation of model classesor new businessesto harmonize them as much as
possible with , the physical and moral , conditions of female workers . The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women devotes its
energies to increasing this kind of occupation , and deserves the active support of the public for its exertions , so that it may
gradually be enabled to extend them in new directions , and offer fresh _examples of the introduction of women into hitherto unaccustomed
businesses and trades . But for older and for highly-educated women—for tL . ose « tp _^ wlionx
the keeping up of a social position has become a moral necessity ,
and for those who have others dependent on them—we surely ought
116 A Year's Experience.
116 A YEAR ' S EXPERIENCE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1860, page 116, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101860/page/44/
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