EMPLOYMENT AND PAYMENT OF WOMEN IN AMERICA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 194, 17 August 1871, Page 4

EMPLOYMENT AND PAYMENT OF WOMEN IN AMERICA.

The subjoined, which i 3 from the Treasury of Literature, is of interest :— " We note the following from an American paper showing that in America, where lady writers are 'plentiful as blackberries/ the auras they can earn yearly are really worth the close industry which literature demands of its workers. Mrs. Mary Clemmer Ames, who writes for the Independent, and also the Brooklyn Union, makes a thousand pounds a year; Mrs. Harriett Prescott Spofford about the same. Miss Snead and Grace Green wood make larger sums. Another lady who creates a large income is Mrs. Briggs — « Olivia ' of the Philadelphia Press. Her letters are among the very best. The article from ■which' we quote goes on to say : — Probably one reason why these lady correspondents are so well compensated is that, aside from their ability, they attend very closely to their duties, do not pervade places where much Bourbon, late night, and bad cigars are consumed, and do not indulge in ' sinful games/ An Englishwoman cannot understand the last remark. One would think the writer alluded to men rather than to women. In America women compete with men for public employment — clerkships, &c. Miss Fanny R. Sprague has been appointed phonographic amanuensis in the Treasury Department, Washington, at nearly double the pay of the other lady clerks, who write only longhand. Miss Belle Smith, of Indiana, has just completed for the Common Council of Washington a full-length portrait of the late Secretary Stanton, that is said to be the best likeness extant of the great War Minister. Mrs. Cook, M.D., of Buffalo, last year put nine thousand dollars (upwards of £1,800 sterling) in her purse by her medical practice. This year her services are still more in demand. "Perhaps the most extraordinary employment for women to take up is that of stockbrokers. There are two sisters, Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull and Mrs. Tenuie C. Claflin. Thiß firm is Woodhull, Claflin and Co., bankers and brokers. This strange ( innovation ' has. excited notice and comment even in New Tork. It is thd firat step which surprises. After that there is no novelty ; and probably the example of these ladies will in some degree be followed. Women have as great business aptitude as men, but they iail in the essentials—the application of the per-

ceptive and the reasoning faculties — which bring success in most industries. Women are not persistent in working against difficulties and worries ; and though they may for a time be brave amidst stormy paths, in the end they may succumb. All honor be to the women who break down the barriers of caste, and set the example of working honestly for bread, being not ashamed of that which they will to do, thus giving dignity to the labor which they choose to perform — neither courting the praise of flatterers nor heeding the worthless censure of the innumerable Mrs. Grundies who exist everywhere."