_Wire Window Shades._ Mrs. C. said a lady used to paint wire shades for her husband. He also employed men. He has most work done in summer. It requires care to keep from filling the niches with paint. Miss ---- acquired boldness and freedom of execution in oil painting by the practice. Rapidity and lightness of touch were also acquired. Her hand had got a stiff, cramped feeling, from painting on canvas constantly. The price paid for shades depends on the fineness of the cloth, the size, and design. Miss S. says her father has the landscape painting done by Germans, and pays good prices. It is paid for by the square foot. He charges $2 a square foot, for a shade in the frame, ready to put in the window. The artists take them to their studios. Germans are preferred because they work most rapidly. One makes a great deal of money, but he works late at night and on Sundays. Several coats of paint are put on before the landscape is painted. Some copy engravings, but enlarge the scale. They make to order. The business is increasing. He sends a great many to the South, particularly Havana and Baltimore.
MANUFACTURERS OF BOOKS, INK, PAPER, AND PENCILS.
=376. Bookfolders.= I know of no work in a bookbindery that could not be performed by intelligent women that were properly instructed. Forwarding, marbling, gilding, stamping, and finishing could be done by them, in addition to presswork, folding, gathering, and sewing. The female bookfolders of New York number several thousand. The women in Philadelphia binderies are between 1,000 and 2,000. The most bookfolding and sewing, out of New York, are done in Washington and Philadelphia, and some in Cincinnati. The busy seasons for book makers are from September to January, and from March to July. In this business there is a union among the men regulating prices, hours, &c. There is a great difference in the character of the binderies in New York--every shade and grade is to be found. In seeing the size and comfort of the workrooms, and the manners and conversation of the employer, it would not be very difficult to judge of the pay and condition of the workgirls. The trade is well filled, and, no doubt, with quite as many women of worth, self-respect, and education, as any other. At the Bible House, Tract House, Methodist Book Concern, and Harper's, New York, the faces of the workers are bright and cheerful. Every precaution is taken to secure only those who are respectable, and the associations surrounding them are calculated to elevate, rather than degrade. Most of them are able to pay enough for their board to secure the right kind of home associations. These establishments, except in emergencies like the present, retain their hands all the year; while those in a majority of other houses fluctuate with their business and are unoccupied three or four months in the year. Bookfolding is paid for by the 1,000 sheets, depending on the size of the sheet and the number of times it is folded. A good, fast folder can earn from 50 cents to 65 cents a day, whether folding with a machine or by hand. A few can earn as much as $6 per week. Folding and collating pay the best of woman's work. Collating is usually paid for at 20 cents an hour. Men in bookbinderies get from $8 to $20 per week. Some employers are much more kind and intelligent than others. Some bookbinders in New York impose on girls by taking them to learn the business, requiring that they stay from six weeks to six months to do so, and paying nothing during that time. During the most of the time their work is efficient, and they earn money for their employers. When the time has expired they are turned off, and others taken on. Some bookbinders employ those who will do their work at a very cheap rate, often thus exposing them to influences that are pernicious. Favoritism is often shown by employers and foremen. At H.'s, 200 women and girls are employed in folding, sewing, and gilding. Either of the branches is light and pleasant, and soon learned, after which the remuneration depends upon the abilities of the learner. Their hours are from 7-½ to 6, but it is piece work. All of his workpeople are temperance people. The work of bookbinders is not more unhealthy than any other indoor work. At the Tract House they take a few girls to learn to fold, and have them work until they earn $6 before they pay anything. An English woman told me that she used to earn $7 a week, as forewoman, but they never allowed her to be absent a day. A publisher in Philadelphia employs about fifty girls in his bindery, but complains that as soon as they make a few dollars they will take a holiday to spend it.