WHAT WOMEN ARE DOING.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 163, 3 November 1883, Page 11

WHAT WOMEN ARE DOING.

Thebb are eight hundred thousand women in England -who earn their livelihood outside of their homes. Judith G-autier, daughter of the novelist, is said to be the best Chinese scholar in France. Mrs A. T. Stewart is the second largest United States bond-holder, having $30,000,000 invested. Miss Maggie Knoll, of Erie, Pa., is under an engagement to play cornet and violin soloa in the Leipsic orchestra of Cincinnati. Mrs Julia A. Sabine, of Colorapo Springs, 001., is th© agent of the Insurance Co. of North America, and also of the Pennslyvania Fire Insurance Co. Mrs Ellen Malengro, the matron of the Jeffersonville Pest Houae, has contracted for two years to keep the house and grounds in order, take care of the patients, and to attend to the conveyance of patients and the burying of the dead. Johanna Schmidt, an American of German descant, got tired of helping her mother keep boarding-house in New York, and \within the year has persevered through manifold 'difficulties, until she has established herself and mother in the possession of a one-hundred-and-sbcty-acre farm in Dakota. Mile. Arnaud — the name is a pseudonym — is the fortieth female dramatist who has been enacted at the Theatre Frangaia ; but of all the authors' busts that decorate the foyer gallery, and grand staircase, only two of those are women — > Delphine Gay (Madame Girardin) and Mme. Dudevant (Geoarge Sand). The W.A.C.T.TT. have formed a committee on. Kitchen-Garden Schools, and already started them in Oswego, N.Y., Yonkers, W.Y., Louisvillo, Ky., Cleveland, 0., and Baltimore, Md. The .Chairman of the Committee is Miss Mary C. McClees, Yonkers, N.Y., who may be addressed for information. Mias Frances E. Willard, president of the W.A.C.T.U., has issued a circular letter in which she asks for concerted action to Secure throughout the English-speaking world the organization of a local W.A.O.T.U. in ey<Sty county seat and in all towns of Great Britain, Canada, and the United States in which ;there is a population of ten thousand. The Crown Princess of Prussia doe 3 not occasionally drop into the school-room where her daughters Victoria^ Sophie, and Marguerite are being brought vp — she takes the lessons with them, resolved not oniy to advance by a knowledge of books on political economy or metaphysics, but to perfect herself year by year" in those matters wkich are the groundwork of everybody's development. In the State of Massachusetts it is now announced that there are 248 occupations open to women, instead of seven! aa described by Harriet

Martineau, and that 251,158 -women are earning their own living in these occupations, receiving from $150 to $3000 each every year. Thia computation does not include amateurs, or mothers and daughters in the household, and of course excludes domestic servants. Mrs Washington R. Eoebling, the wife of the engineer who was intrusted with the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, has been chief of the engineering staff ever since her husband first fell ill. When he was disabled Mrs Boebling took his place, and the enormous structure, which is called " one of the most conspicuous marvels of the nineteenth century," wa3 completed under , her direction. The Congregationalists of Great Barrington, ■ Mass., have received a church property of over $200,000, free from debt, through the benevolence of a rich widow, Mrs Mark Hopkins, whose estate of $22,000,000 in 1879 has increased in value to $50,000,000 since that time. Mrs Hopkins was once a Miss Sherwood, daughter of Prof. Sherwood, and a teacher in Great Bavrington. The ancestors of her husband came to this country from Coventry, England, in 1634. Miss Fuller, a young lady teacher at Marquette, Mich., recently took a lesson in deer slaying, and succeeded in shooting and killing a fine buck. Clasping her hands, she exclaimed, " Now, let me only capture a bear, and I will be ready to die ! " In 18-18 Elizabeth Blackwell took her wellearned degree from the Medical College at Geneva, N.Y. The faculty, while admiting her high scholarship, immediately upon her graduation closed the institution to all other women. In an eastern town is a woman who has helped to carry on a brick-yard, doing with her own hands every kind of work connected with the business. A young girl twenty years of age manages a lumber-yard for her mother, who is a widow, and who is succeeding admirably. Another helped her father, a grain dealer, attending to the buying, selling and shipping of grain, and keeping the books. She walked in from her home in the country every morning, and out again in the evening. In all the annals of religious persecution, there is no case more dark and terrible than that of ■Rebekah Nurse. She died a martyr to the fanaticism of the Rev. Samuel Parris, the " witch hunter," in 1692. But lately two hnndred of the descendants of Rebekah Nurse met at Salem to celebrate her virtues and boast that her blood runs in their veins. The woman hounded to death in 1692 as a witch, and buried in an unmarked grave, is venerated in 1883 »9 the worthy mother of a distinguished family. 1798 the first straw bonnet wa3 made by Betsy Metcalf, and the first bonnet was the foundation j of an important industry in the United Stateß. The cotton gin, by which the seed is mechanically separated from the cotton, was the invention of Catherine Greene, a planter's wife, who daily saw the necessity which existed for a contrivance of the kind. Mrs Manning is Mid to be the author of the American Mower and Reaper, but as the invention was patented in the n*me of Mr Manning, Mrs Manning aad her aex. are deprived of the glory which accrues from it. Tho " Guard of Honor" is a sooiety for men founded in Buffalo seventeen years *go by a woman, Miss G. Mulligan. It beg«a with five members, aad there is as average* attoaflirtice now at each mooting of apward one bntnared,. from sixteen to forty yeattrs of «g©. Over five thousand ; have from time to time belonged to the class, and the amount of good done in n quiet way cannot be estimated — Quo, it is atid to Mjss Xalligaa'a personal ohaapcter aad consecration to her work. Members pledge themselves to «b3fcain from j ardent spirit* and from gambling, «nfl they have created the office of first director for " C. Mulligan," to be filled by her '•' forever." A girl of nineteen, arrested in Chicago for wearing a man's dress, explained that she merely changed garments so aa to get a living easier. For three years she has been employed on the lake boat 3as steward, watchman or cook, lived without being suspected, and was only detected by an accident at last. She says, "By working on the boats in man's clothing, I can earn $1.75 a day. If I wor» woman's olothes I should not be allowed to do the work, and should probably liave to wash pots. I know I have violated the law, but I'd rather make bricks in the penitentiary than bend over a wash tub." Recent statistics state that the ruanafacture of artificial feathers givfcs employment to more than 3000 women ; 4000 are engaged in bookbinding, j at which only 5000 men are employed ; 25,000 { do work in shoe factories ; 80,000 manufacture i men's clothe*, professionally, in addition to the millions who do this kind of work at their own homea. It is somewhat surprising that more women are engaged in making men's clothes for the market than in making women's clothes, the latter being only 22,000 in the United States 5 2000 women get a living by making confectionery ; 1400 make twine, and 7000 are engaged in making corsets. The oenaua shows that 217 make fireworks and explosives, afcnd twenty make gunpowder. Mis 3 G-enevieve Ward was the recipient of an ovation at the expiration of her six months' season at the Olympic in London. A testimonial from her company consisted of a mirror, encircled by an exquisite wreath of flowers in china of the most delicate texture, a china basket, also in delicate flowers, and a pair of china candelabra, the whole making an extremely pretty effect, perfect in form and colour. The floral tributes were remarkable for number and. size, as well as beauty ; one exquisite basket being an offering from the art students at South Kensington, who desired thus to testify their admiration of Miss Ward as a woman and artist. Miss Ward^ is going on a starring trip round the world, starting from India, thence to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the American' continent. — JDemorest . Magazine for October.

Dotf'T Die in the House. — " Kough on Eats," clears out rats, mico, beetles, roaches, bed-bugs, flea, ants, insects, moles, jack-rabbits, gophers. Moses' Moss & Co., Sydney, General Agents. Have you noticed the new " Moresque " carpet lately imported by Garlick and Cranwell ? This new make is an improvement upon the ordinary Brussells — has a beautiful appearance, and patterns suitable both for dining and drawing-rooms are now procurable. G. and C. have just opened up £700 worth of carpets ex George Bewley, and this addition to their stook enables them to give their customers a very large selection, together with borders and rugs to match.