  520. United States. Last summer, a lady ascended alone in a balloon, from Palace Garden, N.Y. She went up once in a balloon filled with hot air. She received part of the profits derived from the admittance fees, and the keeper of the garden the other portion, neither of which were very large. Several women have gone up with their husbands. We take the following items from the summary of the San Francisco Alta California, of December 5th: "At the recent election, two women were elected to fill office in Placer County—one as justice of the peace, and the other as constable. Each received one vote in the precinct, and there was no opposition." It is seldom that a lady's exertions are called forth as were those of Mrs. Patton, wife of the captain of the ship Neptune's Car. Yet, it goes to confirm what we have stated in some other place, that any valuable information acquired will always come in use. We will quote the extract as we saw it in a newspaper, copied from a San Francisco letter: "Fifty days ago, Captain Patton was attacked with the brain fever, and for the last twenty-five days has been blind. Previous to his illness, he had put the first mate off duty on account of his incompetency. After the captain's illness, the second mate took charge of the ship, but he did not understand navigation. The first mate wrote Mrs. Patton a letter, reminding her of the dangers of the coast, and of the great responsibility she had assumed, and offered to take charge of the ship; but she stood by the decision of her husband and declined the offer. She worked up the reckoning every day, and brought the ship safely into port. During all this time she acted as nurse to the captain. She studied medicine to learn how to treat his case, and shaved his head, and by competent care and watchfulness kept him alive. She said that for fifty nights she had not undressed herself. Few women could have done so much and done it so well. She was at once navigator, nurse, and physician, and protector of the property intrusted to her husband." The Geneva Courier notices the appearance in that village "of a strong-armed, strong-backed, and, of course, strong-minded woman, in charge of a canal boat, of which she is owner and captain. She is of German origin, and manages her craft with great ability." In New York, I saw a woman driving a bread wagon, one rolling a wheelbarrow, and another drawing a similar wagon filled with ashes. A few women are employed in charcoal burning in New Jersey. 521. England. In looking over the census of Great Britain, for 1850, we are surprised to find that in some of those occupations most suitable for women, as physicians, music composers, teachers of mathematics, macaroni packers, mask makers, honey dealers, lecturers, reporters, and spice merchants, not one female is reported; while, in occupations altogether unsuitable, many women are employed—in some, even hundreds. No doubt many of these women, perhaps a majority, and in some occupations it may be all, are the widows of men who have been engaged in the business, and who employ others to do the work. In some of the other occupations, the women probably do only the lighter work, under the direction of the masters or competent foremen. Circumstances, as regards occupation, certainly do much to in fluence the fate of every one. But in no respect is there a greater need of reform, than in the proper appreciation of employments by the sexes. Men have, in bygone times, seized upon the lightest and most lucrative occupations, and by custom still retain them. The most laborious and disagreeable work is left for women, and what is still worse, they are paid only from one third to one half as much as men, doing the same kind of work. Of the occupations that strike us as odd for women, in the census of Great Britain, are makers of agricultural implements, anchor smiths, barge women, barge boat builders, bell hangers, bedstead makers, bill stickers, blacksmiths, brass manufacturers, brick makers, bristle manufacturers, builders, carpenters, case (packing) makers, chimney sweepers, coke burners, commercial travellers, engine and machinery makers, ferriers, goldbeaters, grindstone cutters, gun makers, hawkers, hemp manufacturers, hinge makers, nail manufacturers, oil refiners, paper hangers, parasol and umbrella stick manufacturers, peat cutters, plasterers, potato merchants, railway-station attendants, razor makers, ring-chain makers, rivet makers, rope makers, saddle-tree makers, sail makers, scale makers, sawyers, scavengers, sextons, ship agents, ship builders, small steel-ware manufacturers, snuff and tobacco manufacturers, spade makers, spar cutters, spirit and wine merchants, stone breakers, stone quarriers, stove, grate, and range makers, sugar refiners, surgical-instrument makers, timber merchants, timber choppers and benders, tin manufacturers, trunk makers, turners, turpentine manufacturers, undertakers, vermin destroyers, well sinkers, wheelwrights, white-metal manufacturers, wine manufacturers, wood dealers, and zinc manufacturers. In the furniture trade of Great Britain, 5,763 women are employed, while 7,479 are engaged in conveyance. I would also add, that in Great Britain, women have been, and still are, to some extent, employed in coal, copper, iron, lead, manganese, salt, tin, and other mineral mines. Of those for men extremely inappropriate, are reported three hundred and sixty-six dress makers, and sixty-one embroiderers. "In the reign of George II. (says Mrs. Childs), the minister of Clerkenwell was chosen by a majority of women. The office of champion has frequently been held by a woman, and was so at the coronation of George I. The office of grand chamberlain, in 1822, was filled by two women; and that of clerk of the crown, in the court of king's bench, has been granted to a female. The celebrated Anne, Countess of Pembroke, held the hereditary office of sheriff of Westmoreland, and exercised it in person, sitting on the bench of the judges. In ancient councils, mention is made of deaconesses; and in an edition of the New Testament printed in 1574, a woman is spoken of as minister of a church." Miss Betsy Miller has for years commanded the Scotch brig, Cleotus. Her father commanded a vessel plying between England and France. After his wife died, the daughter frequently accompanied him. On his death, being without a home on land, she took command of the vessel, and remained in the capacity of captain several years. An English correspondent of an American paper writes: "Walking, lately, near some white-lead works, about the hour of closing, we observed the sudden egress of about a hundred women from the establishment, all Irish, and all decently clad and well conducted. On inquiry, we found that they are employed continuously in the works, piling the lead for oxidation, and in various other processes, not by any means coming under the denomination of light labor." A few years ago, a singular death occurred in England. It was that of a woman, who, owing to harsh treatment from her parents when a child, left her home at the age of eight, dressed in boy's clothes, got work as a boy, learned the trade of a mason, and worked at it until about middle age, when the business was changed for that of a beer house, in which occupation the individual continued until her death, at the age of sixty. She always dressed as a man. When quite young, she was very industrious and hard-working. Many of the large houses and tall chimneys in Manchester and Salford were built by her. "The 7,000 women returned in the census under the head of miners, are, no doubt, for the most part, the dressers of the ores in the Cornish and Welsh mines. The work is dirty, but not too laborious; less laborious than the work which may perhaps be included under the same head—the supplying porcelain clay from the same regions of country. Travellers in Devonshire and Cornwall are familiar with the ugly scenery of hillsides where turf is taken up, and the series of clay pits is overflowing, and the plastered women are stirring the mess, or sifting and straining, or drying or moulding the refined clay. The mineral interest is, however, one of the smallest in the schedule of female industry; and it is likely to contract, rather than expand—except the labor of sorting the ores." In Great Britain, some women work in alabaster, and some in alum mines. In what is called the Black country, some women are employed on the pit banks, and some about the furnace yards. A London paper says: "Melton and its neighborhood can boast of thr
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