On this page
-
Text (1)
-
. THE RISE AND PKOGEESS OF TELEGKAPHS. 2...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
The Next Electric Telegraph In Order Of ...
vldual peculiarities of touch are projected to an infinite distance ! . We had the pleasure of visiting" the Electric and International
Telegraph . Office the other day , and rejoiced with a great rejoicing " at the fact that the whole of the large and important business is
carried on by women , with the exception of that part which belongs to the receipt of the messages , and the transmission of the
same by the well known intelligent-faced messengers . The history of the introduction of young women into this office
is most instructive and interesting . It appears that about six years ago Mr . Kicardo , M . P ., the then chairman of the company , heard
of a young girl , the daughter of one of the railway station-masters , who had for three years carried on day hy day the whole of the
electric telegraph business for her father , and that too with great intelligence and correctness . The idea then suggested itself of
training and employing women as clerks for the telegraph company , and on its "being proposed to the committee the
proposition was warmly advocated by General Wylde , who has proved a most untiring friend to the cause . Opposition was of
course naturally enough shown by the clerks of the establishment , but the experiment "was permitted to proceed , and Mrs .
Craig-, the present intelligent matron , appointed to instruct in her own room _eig-ht pupils on two instruments . At first , the
instruments in one room were worked hy young men , and the instruments in the other by young women , and it seemed as though the
directors "were pitting them against each other , establishing a kind of industrial tournament , to see which description of laborer was
worthiest . "With what tact , perseverance , and success Mrs . Craig ders and her Court pupils alone worked upwards , may be of gathered ninety young from the women fact th are at at now Foun in
active employment , the whole of the actual working of the instruments having fallen into their hands . The committee are now
perfectly satisfied that the girls are not only more teachable , more attentive , and quicker-eyed than the men clerks formerly employed ,
but have also pronounced them more trustworthy , more easily managedand , we may add , sooner satisfied with lower wages . So
, well pleased , indeed , are they with the result of their experiment , that about thirty more women are now employed at the "branch
offices , viz ., eight at Charing Cross , two at Fleet Street , two at _Knig'htsbridge , etc . ; and eventually there is no doubt they will £ U 1
posts in all the branch offices in England . As you enter the long room where these young girls are working , the continual clicking
of the needles immediately strikes the ear ; and a little observation teaches us that in one corner London is holding conversation with
Liverpool , while in another Manchester is receiving * a long * message from London ; here Temple Bar is discoursing eloquently of deeds
and parchment , there Yarmouth is telling about her fish and shipping . Two girls sit at each machine , the one spelling the words
as rapidly as letter succeeds letter , and the other writing it down as
. The Rise And Pkogeess Of Telegkaphs. 2...
. THE RISE AND PKOGEESS OF TELEGKAPHS . 261
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1859, page 261, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121859/page/45/
-