EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN.
MATTER of some little importance connected with the great question of how to obtain remunerative work for women of the middle classes has lately been brought to our notice. Having investigated it, we proceed to give our readers some information on the subject, with the hope that all those who are interested in social improvement will inquire farther into it for themselves.
In the year 1842-3 a "Female School of Art and Design" was opened at Somerset House, by the Committee of Council on Edu- cation, in connection with other movements made at that time for facilitating the study of 'art in this country. This school prospered. It was removed after a time to adjacent premises in the Strand, for the sake of better accommodation ; and. for that reason, also, it was subsequently removed to No. 37, Gower Street, where it still flourishes. Its object from the beginning was two- fold :—First, to enable young women of the middle class to obtain an honourable and profitable employment ; second, to improve ornamental design in manufactures b cultivating the taste of the designer. This object it has helped o attain in various ways.
fel This school has been the parent of all the other female schools of design which have sprung up since 1843—including that of South Kensington. Owing to the very low fees paid by the pupils, the expense of providing them with proper objects of art and nature as models, besides furnishing them with rooms and teachers, was defrayed chiefly by a grant from the Government of about five hundred per annum. Since 1852, 690 students have entered themselves at the school, and the number at the present time is 118, of whom 77 are studying with the view of maintaining them- selves. These are chiefly of the class who would otherwise swell the rank of governesses who oppress the tender-hearted readers of the Times' advertising columns. The success of the school is mainly of the kind that cannot be put down in facts and figures. Its humanizing, its elevating influence on the majority of the students, can only be appreciated by those who have seen its effect on the character of the pupils. This School of Design, like every other methodical, well-managed instrument of intellectual education, has produced the best moral effects. Those who came to learn design remained because " la- borare est orare," as Mr. Carlyle and much older philosophers would say. But the results in facts and figures are also worthy of record. In the last three years, the students have taken an average of twenty local and three National medals, and at the last annual examination six of them obtained free studentships. Many of the former students are now engaged in teaching in va- rious schools belonging to the Science and Art Department of educational boards. Of course, the bulk of the students have found the acquirements made in the school either a means, or partially a means, of obtaining a living. This school is the only one of the kind in London, with the exception of that at South Kensington, though there are schools for learning design, with far fewer advantages. It is extremely convenient for pupils living in the north and north-west districts of the metropolis, who, from the distance, could not attend the classes at South Ken- sington.
Now, this school will be broken up in July next, because the Committee of Council have intimated their intention to withdraw their special assistance, unless it can be made self-supporting. The friends of the school are of opinion that if it could be helped at first to maintain itself, it would. soon become inde- pendent. Among the most active of these friends is the present Superintendent of the School, a lady whose exertions are in one sense disinterested, for she does not depend upon her labour for the means of subsistence. This lady has already obtained the cordial sympathy and assistance of many persons distinguished for their devotion to the welfare of society, in various ways.* The way in which these friends of the school are endeavouring to save it from extinction, is to augment the fees, and to save in house rent and minor matters. The largest economy would be to build or purchase a fit house for the school. When it lives rent free, it may become self-supporting. Two thousand pounds would get the required house, and, to obtain this sum, the com- mittee of management of the school (whose names we have given in a note) are compelled to appeal to the publics. A subscription has been begun, and the sum already collected is above three hundred pounds. We have no doubt that the full amount re- quired will be collected without difficulty, when the merits of the case are known.
In conclusion, we quote a passage from the excellent account of the school by the Reverend Anthony Thorold, which we have found very useful in giving the present general description :— "It is most certainly a right and laudable object to keep open every possible channel for the employment of young women. However anxious we may be to retain them in that private life, in which their right position undoubtedly is, yet oases constantly occur in which they must either starve in obscurity, or come forth to struggle and perhaps to descend in the social scale, through no fault of their own. The instructions given in this school are eminently useful in preventing such misfortunes, and may be received and eventually turned to profit, without necessarily taking them out of their proper sphere. To throw away the ground won by many years of patient industry, would be mortifying, if not foolish."
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