compositor is a very
good one. Among men, a type-setter has always been considered the most
independent of mortals. If he is thorough master of his trade, he is
always sure of work, and with the great development of our country,
there is hardly a spot to which he may drift where he will not find a
printing-office and an opportunity to earn money. Numerous instances
might be related of printers who, being of a roving disposition, have
travelled all over the United States, earning their living as they
went. The trade is just as good, or nearly as good, for a woman. She
is never paid, it is true, the same rate that the men receive, but if
she is a quick worker she can make much more money in a week, as a
compositor, than she could at many other occupations. She can never
hope to perform as much work as a first-class male compositor; that is
a physical impossibility.

Good compositors in the large New York establishments where books are
printed (and it is only in such places that women are employed in the
large cities), earn from $14 to $15 a week. The poor ones average $9
and $10 a week. Sometimes good women make more than $15 a week,
earning as much as $18 or $20 a week. This kind of work, it must be
understood, is paid by the piece, so that how much a woman earns
depends entirely on her ability.

In many small cities and country towns, especially throughout New
England, young women are employed as compositors in newspaper
offices. Their rate of pay is never as high as it is in the cities,
but their living expenses are proportionately less, so that really
they are just as well off. It would seem, indeed, that such situations
were to be preferred. There is less noise and hurry in such small
establishments, and, therefore, less wear and tear on the human
system. The papers are generally afternoon papers, and, therefore, the
work is all done in the daytime. The women are allowed to sit at their
work. In such situations they will be able to earn from $5 to $12 a
week.

It is, at present, difficult for a woman entirely ignorant of the
trade, to get into any of the large establishments in New York, where
such help is engaged, for the purpose of learning to become a
type-setter. If her ambition lies in this direction, and she lives
outside the large cities, she could do no better than obtain an
introductory knowledge of the art in some country newspaper office,
or, failing in that, get the necessary practical instruction in