One of the most pressing social problems of the day is how the immense number of women—greatly outnumbering the men—in England at the present time are to be supported. The obvious answer is, that they must be taught and encouraged to support themselves. This little book is written in the hope of directing their attention to some suitable and remunerative employments that are not universally known, and it is also hoped it may prove useful to parents who are anxious to arm their daughters for the battle of life with a weapon no one can take from them.
"When land is gone, and money spent,
Then learning is most excellent."

And a thorough knowledge of some remunerative employment would do more to make them independent of "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"10 than the possession of any amount of money, especially in these days of bank failures and general depression of trade.

The great difficulty ladies usually find in securing congenial and sufficiently well-paid employment arises from the pressing necessity they are generally under of earning money at once, which prevents them giving the necessary time to learn whatever calling they may wish to adopt. I have endeavoured to ascertain as exactly as possible the time required to learn all the occupations I mention, as well as the cost of tuition, and, in most cases, I subjoin the rules, or give extracts from the prospectuses of the different schools and classes where ladies may receive the necessary instruction, thinking it may help many to decide upon what they are most fitted for, and what they can best afford to undertake. I have also collected as much information as I could for those whose circumstances make it essential that they should at once receive remuneration for their work; but I must remind them that generally what is worth having is worth waiting and working for, and they must not expect to be as well paid as their more fortunate sisters, who are able to give time and money to learn a business thoroughly. The superficiality of girls' education is very much against them when it becomes a question of how they are to earn their living. If they were taught even one11 thing thoroughly they would probably be able to turn it to account; or at least they would have acquired the habit of learning accurately, which is all important, and one which, I am sorry to say, most women are sadly deficient in. Industry, determination, accuracy, and perseverance, would, I am certain, be quite sufficient to overcome almost all the difficulties women at present find in supporting themselves. For those who do not possess or who will not earnestly endeavour to acquire these qualities, I fear this book will be of little service. I have had to listen to bitter complaints of the careless way in which ladies execute work that is entrusted to them, of their want of punctuality and business habits, and their ineradicable conviction that they are conferring a favour upon their employers by working for them at all. All this sort of thing naturally makes large employers of female labour reluctant to try ladies, if they can get sufficient work-girls, who, whatever their faults may be, are at least free from the affectation and conceit of some of their superiors in the social scale. Why do not ladies make up their minds to remove this reproach from their class by giving a good day's work for a good day's wage? I heartily wish all women would decide once and for ever to give up the notion that it is humiliating or degrading to work for payment; to my mind the only shame in the matter is in the cases where12 full value is not given for the money received, when of course it becomes more or less an affair of charity.

It is a great pity that girls are brought up to think that the only way in which they can dispose of themselves that will give satisfaction to their friends is to get married, and if from various causes they fail to achieve this end they will be looked upon more or less as social failures. Although I am perfectly willing to admit that a happy marriage is the best fate that can befall a woman, surely an unhappy one is one of the worst; and how many of these would be prevented if women only had something else to do and think about, some other means of advancin............