The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work

Virginia Penny

Sep 2020 · Library of Alexandria

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The great, urgent, universal wants of mankind, in all classes of society, are food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. After these come the comforts and luxuries pertaining to the condition of those in easy circumstances. Above and beyond these animal wants, but of nearly equal importance, are those relating to the mindÑwritten and printed matter, oral instructions, as lectures and sermons, and the handiwork of the fine arts. These, in addition to health, freedom, and friends, comprise the greatest blessings man enjoys. I would add that the means of transit are necessary to make him entirely independent. Nearly all honest occupations are founded on these wants; but they have been divided and subdivided until their name is legion.

The contents of this volume might be arranged in the same way that the articles exhibited in the Crystal Palace of London were, under the headsÑProducer, Importer, Manufacturer, Designer, Inventor, and Proprietor. But we think the arrangement pursued, though rather irregular, may be quite as convenient. So great is the variety of subjects treated, that it is difficult to condense the contents in a smaller compass.

The general difference in character and habits of those engaged in various occupationsÑtheir comparative morality and intelligence, the effects of a decline in wages, the effects of trades-unions, are all, more or less, involved in this subject of employments; also the opinions of the working classes on machinery and its results. Employments that have for their object the health, comfort, and protection of mankindÑthose that produce the necessaries and the luxuries of lifeÑthose for amusement and capable of being dispensed withÑare all treated of to some extent.