The Victorian era offered some trades and professions so odd that even the Victorians considered them a bit peculiar! A great many of these professions have vanished completely, often because the need for them no longer exists ("translating and reviving" old boots and cloths, for instance, or farming ants). Others still linger on - though steeplejacks, who cleaned church steeples and factory chimneys, are considered a vanishing trade, there are still "schools" to revive this lost art. And one assumes it is perhaps still possibly to get a job at a lunatic asylum, even if it would not be called such, or work as an artist's model. But it would probably be difficult to make a living today painting out the white bits on black horses meant to pull funeral hearses...

Lunatic Asylums as a Labour Field, by J.A. Campbell (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Men-and-Animal Shows, and How They Are Moved About, by William O. Stoddard (St. Nicholas, 1882A)

How circus-menageries are managed and moved.

Artists' Models in New York, by Charlotte Adams (Century Magazine, 1883A)

By-Paths of Commerce: The Translater and the Reviver, by the Rev. A.R. Buckland (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1885)

The work of those who "translate" and "revive" old boots and clothing into something usable.

The Hemlock-Peelers, by Ernest Ingersoll (St. Nicholas, 1889)

How hemlock bark was harvested to make "tan-bark" for tanning hides.

Wanted - Specialists in Church Music, by Waldo S. Pratt (Century Magazine, 1893B)

The need for dedicated training for church musicians.

The Mysteries of Game-Rearing, by Thomas Dykes (Windsor Magazine, 1896A)

Steeplejacks and Their Ways, by F.M. Holmes (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1896)

A look at the lives of men who repair church steeples (and tall chimneys).

Some Peculiar Occupations, by Balliol Bruce (The Strand, 1897A)

These include painting out black eyes, truffle-hunting, harvesting turtles, embroidering with hair, and painting over white areas on funeral-hearse horses.

A Chat with a Water Bailiff, by H. Hickling (Windsor Magazine, 1897B)

This article doesn't really explain what a water bailiff does, but his job seems to be to maintain the river, control wildlife that would compete for game fish, and possibly to patrol against poaching.

Twixt Earth and Sky: Pages from a Steeplejack's Diary (Home Magazine, 1898)

On the perilous life of cleaning spires and lofty chimneys.

The School of Oratory, by Spencer Leigh Hughes (Windsor Magazine, 1898B)

Talbott Simpkinson, former doorkeeper of the House, set up a private school for Parliamentary orators after retiring from his official position.

A Strange Trade [Ant-Harvesting], by S. Baring-Gould (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1899)

This article gives new meaning to the term, "Ant Farm."

The Skee-Hunters (St. Nicholas, 1900A)

Huntsmen on skis ("skees") whose job is to capture animals for zoological parks and circuses!

A Life of Peril: The Lancashire Steeplejack and His Work, by George Falconer (Windsor Magazine, 1902A)

Besides repairing church steeples, a Lancashire steeplejack also repairs the tall chimneys of factories.