first principles of the occupation she wishes to follow;
as soon as she has attained a reasonable degree of proficiency in it,
she can get a position in a larger and better establishment, where the
pay will probably be higher and the surroundings more agreeable.

Of the three employments mentioned at the head of this chapter
proof-reading is probably the most pleasant. A woman to be properly
qualified must have a good education, and must have graduated from
the printer's case. A great many young women who know nothing about
the compositor's trade think they can be good proof-readers, but they
may have a good collegiate education, and if they are not familiar
with the practical details of printing, as they can be learned
in a printing establishment, they will never amount to much as
proof-readers. This is the class of proof-readers who "get interested"
in what they are reading; they are on the look-out for bad sentences
which, having found, they promptly proceed to correct, a self-imposed
duty for which they receive no thanks from either their employer or
the author whose language or style they seek to improve. A good
proof-reader reads mechanically. The moment she takes a personal
interest in what she is reading, or becomes critical on the matter in
hand, she is apt to overlook typographical errors of the most common
sort. Of course, she must be a first-class speller and have a good
knowledge of punctuation, though how far she will have to apply the
latter knowledge will depend very much on what kind of proof she is
reading. If she is engaged in an establishment where books are printed
exclusively, she will find that authors, as a rule, have their own
systems of punctuation, with which (supposing the authors to be men
and women of ability) she will not be expected to interfere. But if
she is engaged on newspaper or general work, she will have ample
opportunity to display her knowledge and exercise her judgment in the
matter of punctuation. In all important work female proof-readers
seldom read the second or revised proof. That is generally given to a
male proof-reader of large experience, who gives the matter a critical
reading.

The pay of good women proof-readers is from $15 to $20 a week. Those
who receive the latter sum are capable of reading "revises." Now and
then a woman receives exceptionally good pay for this kind of service.
A prominent American historian paid a lady proof-reader $30 a week;
but she was unu