Читать книгу The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work - Virginia Penny - Страница 62

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A skilful manipulation is necessary to the business of a lapidary. If woman has sufficient firmness of nerve to perform the duties of surgeon, we see not why she would not have for the cutting of precious stones. It is a business conducted on a limited scale and by few persons in this country. Mr. R., of New York, told me that a lady in Birmingham, England, had a large establishment, and employed women and girls to work for her. He knew of no lady that worked at the business in the United States, except one that used to be in an establishment on Broadway. The employment, he thinks, is not unhealthy. After a lady has learned, she would probably earn from $4 to $5 a week, working for others. He received $12 a week when working as a journeyman. He spent seven years as an apprentice in England, but he learned the manufacture of jewelry in connection. The prospect of employment depends much on the condition of the money market, but there is reason to think the business will increase as the country grows older. All seasons of the year are alike. Money matters only make a change. He says there are many books written on the precious stones and the art of cutting and polishing them. He mentioned a book by a lady of London on the subject. Mr. H., an importer and manufacturer of cornelian and other fancy goods, told me that grinding precious stones is very hard work. Men lie across wooden benches to apply the agate, cornelian, or whatever it may be, to the grindstone. There are eight grindstones, weighing twenty tons each, on one axle. The polishing is done by boys, who sit at small wooden wheels, some of which are covered with leather. Sometimes women do this work. As this method of grinding stones is done by water power, it is done more cheaply than by steam. In Germany, a man who works at precious stones or makes up jewelry at home, has his wife and daughters to assist him, and hires a peasant girl to do his housework. The women and girls make the fastenings for earrings, and file and polish the rings. He pays seventy cents a gross in Germany for them. He says, in the country and villages of northern Germany daughters are considered treasures, for they remain at home, and by their handiwork maintain themselves; but in the south of Germany, where there are no manufactures, girls are a burden on their parents. B., of Philadelphia, used to employ girls to set up jet, garnet, and turquoise for grinding; but those stones are now out of fashion, and so girls are not employed. He says an old lady, whose daughter is connected with the Home Mission, wished them to give instruction to her daughter in cutting stones, that she might, as a pastime, cut those brought by members of the family from the seashore and watering places. He thought it likely she would also teach the art in the Mission School. Cutting facets he thought pretty work for women. They can either sit or stand at the tables. There is nothing unhealthy in the grinding, as the stones are kept wet all the time. But the dust used in nipping glass and stones is injurious to the lungs. When a man has been nipping all day, his nostrils are nearly closed. The amount of work depends on fashion. There are seven establishments in Providence, and the work is done by steam. Some stones cannot be cut by steam machinery, as the wheel must every few seconds be graduated in motion. In hard times, the jewelry business and employments connected therewith are dull, as people dispense with superfluities. Southerners buy most jewelry, but now they do not indulge in such purchases.