=372. Furniture Goods.= "At Seymour, Conn., are manufactured brocatelles and cotalines, a fabric composed of silk and linen, or cotton, and used for furniture draperies and carriage linings. Each loom is worked by a girl, who requires very little previous experience to manage it perfectly. There are about 60 persons employed at present in the work, two thirds of whom are females from the age of fourteen upward. The rate of wages paid by the company is higher than that given by the neighboring factories, the nature of the work requiring a superior degree of skill and intelligence."
=373. Mattresses.= A girl engaged in making mattresses told us they are mostly sewed up by machines, and operators earn from $3 to $6, working ten hours a day. In some factories women sew the mattresses, and boys and men prepare the hair and fill them. A mattress seller told me he employs girls to make mattresses in the spring and fall, paying $3 a week, of ten hours a day. One bed furnisher told me her work is mostly done by old ladies. She says some girls down street earn $6 a week, making mattresses. One large manufacturer told me that his is piecework, and some of his girls earn from $8 to $12 a week. He furnishes the sewing machines. In April and May, he finds it difficult to get enough of hands. At another large store, I was told they pay from $6 to $7 a week to good operators, and have their work done in the building. At another large bed and mattress store, I was told they pay women for making ticks with machines from $4 to $5 a week. It is not very steady work. At another place they occupied a room back of the store, and earned from $4 to $6 a week. A firm in Nashua, N. H., write me "they employ fourteen American women in making mattresses, cushions, &c., and pay from $3 to $3.50 a week, including board, and work ten hours a day. Men are paid about $5 a week, and do different work from the women. Some of the hands are employed all the year. There is no great demand for mattress makers at present anywhere. Board, $2."
=374. Venetian Blinds.= At W.'s Venetian blind manufactory, in Philadelphia, I was told they generally employ several women. They earn about $3 a week, and take their sewing home. The work is sewing tapes on the main pieces to support the slats. The business is best in the spring, from January to May, and is good in the fall, but they endeavor to furnish some employment all the year to their girls, who are American. A manufacturer of Venetian blinds in Boston employs some women in writing, sewing, laying out work, &c. They are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Male and female labor is not of the same kind in his establishment. Men spend two years learning; women, one month. The last part of spring and the first part of summer are best for work. He could easily find more sewers, if he had employment for them. He finds them cheaper and more suitable for the work than men. The means of mental and moral culture are those common to the residents of Boston.