20 
T1IE LADIES ’ FLORAL CAR I NET. 
a good number of pupils put in an appearance, although 
the fee for the course was fifteen dollars. But this 
year, so far, the attendance is considerably less, which 
one of the trustees explains as follows: ‘ Put in a nut¬ 
shell,’ he says, ‘the whole trouble istliis: our experience 
has taught us that the young women who entered the 
class were in too great a hurry to make money'; they 
expected to be coached at once into a state of affluent 
remuneration. Anybody can easily’ learn a smattering 
of anything, but there is no royal road to thorough 
knowledge. To design well, to execute art-work that 
is artistic, a protracted drill in elementary principles— 
particularly in the principles of drawing—is indispensa¬ 
ble. As soon as we began to teach them drawing, they 
were impatient to get into coloring. As soon as we be¬ 
gan to show them how to make money,they were so eager 
to be making it as to spurn the necessary prerequisites 
thereto. This has been our difficulty, and it is one that 
can not be overcome until y'oung women who aspire to 
support themselves by art consent to make themselves 
at least respectable draughtsmen.’ * * * * 
“ A young woman who has mastered the fundamental 
principles of design, and who is able to impress herself 
'on her work, has three ways of disposing of the products 
of her skill. In the first place, she may become a 
teacher, and give her pupils practical illustrations of 
what they are to leam. This y’ear, at the Cooper Insti¬ 
tute, the demand from the West for teachers of drawing 
is greater than ever before, and clever girls who are 
recommended by the authorities of the Institute find no 
difficulty' in obtaining remunerative positions. One of 
these girls is now a teacher in Michigan at a salary of 
eighty dollars a month. Another receives a thousand 
dollars a year. In the Eastern cities and their suburbs 
from one dollar to two dollars an hour is paid for such 
instruction, either by principals of schools or by private 
persons. In the next place, some of the leading firms 
of house decorators are employing the artistic services, 
of women to carry out their designs at a salary of from 
eight to twelve dollars a week. .This work, of course, 
pay's less than much special work performed by 
the artist at her own homo, but it has (lie advantage of 
familiarizing her with the best that is done in her de¬ 
partment, of increasing her acquaintance with buyers, 
and, in general, of placing her cn rappert with current 
business methods and means, so that, if endowed with 
the requisite talents, she may soon create a constituency 
of her own. In the third place, she can make designs 
at home, and sell them directly’. The demand for such 
designs is varied and brisk, if they arc adapted to the 
purpose for which they arc intended. Take so simple 
a tiling as a trade-mark on the lining of the crown of 
a man’s hat. When the manufacturer desires an article 
of that sort, to whom is he to go for it if not to a profes¬ 
sional designer? Or take the patterns of chandeliers 
and sconces. Every manufacturer of these wares is on 
the lookout for something novel and striking, and I 
know of at least one instance where a clever woman pupil 
of the Cooper Institute met his needs most admirably. 
As for new models for wood-carving, these are in con¬ 
stant demand, and a knowledge of the principles of de¬ 
signs has enabled many a young woman to supply them, 
at short notice. Cabinet-makers, upholsterers, and silver¬ 
smiths are continually in a state of mind lest the next 
season shall find them in the lurch. You may say' that 
they employ salaried designers of their own, and so 
they do, but most of these artists are foreigners, and 
there is room and to spare for the use of thoroughly 
American patterns which shall express thoroughly' 
Americau ideas, and bring out the aroma of the soil 
on which Americans live. The experience of hun¬ 
dreds of American women who have mastered lb.' 
principles of design attests the truth of this state¬ 
ment.” 
HOW WOMEN ARE ESTEEMED.' 
Woman is a miracle of divine contradiction.— Michelet. 
Of all things that man possesses, women alone take 
pleasure in being possessed.— Malherbe. 
Woman is a problem ; man’s greatest study to find her 
out. 
Woman is most perfect when most womanly— Glad¬ 
stone. 
Shakespeare has no heroes—he has only heroines.— 
Ruskin. 
Woman among savages is a beast of burden ; in Asia 
she is a piece of furniture; in Europe she is a spoiled 
child —Senac de Meinan. 
A handsome woman is a jewel; a good woman is a 
treasure. —Saadi. 
If woman lost us Eden, such as she alone can restore 
it.— Whittier. 
To a gentleman every woman is a lady in right of her 
•ex.— Bulwer. 
All that I am my mother made me —John Q. Adams. 
A woman changes oft; who trusts her is the softest of 
the soft.— Francis I. 
What is woman? Only one of nature’s agreeable- 
blunders.— Cowley. 
Handsome women without religion are like flowers; 
without perfume.— Heine. 
All women are good—good for something, or good', 
for nothing.— Cervantes. 
Before promising a woman to love only her, one- 
should have seen them all, or should see only her.— 
A. Dupuy. 
Women love always; when earth slips from them, 
they take refuge in heaven. 
In wishing to extend her empire, woman destroys 
it.— Cabanis. 
Earth has nothing more tender than a woman’s, 
heart, when it is the abode of pity.— Lather. 
