The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-15 00:00:00

NOTEs FROM PARIS.

FEMALE SCAVENGERS.—Shaine upon Prance, falsely
) led by its inhabitants " The Paradise of Woman,"
where the female race is degraded to occupations which
England never imposed on her most worthless daughters.
Orli), the young and hardy of the stronger sex are em-
p',J; ed in the paria trade of scavenger in England,
atone others being fit to cope with the discomfort of
I,l'.9ing dust in summer, and continual mud in winter.
1. streets of Paris, however, at this moment offer
'the most distressing spectacle of age 1 and decrepit
women, toning by dozens in the wet, heavy mud, with
their miserable clothing also is saturated ; a drip-
ping broom or shovel is alternately placed in the
girdle on their backs, and their wrinkled features are
tearcely discernible through the splashings of crowds of
e-srriages, which, whirling rapidly among these feeble
yilti creatures, seem continually to threaten the rniseranle
remnant of their days. There can scarcely be imagined
niche deplorable spectacle than these aged worii.n
tuch heavy work without 012 assistance of.
and held so low in the consideration of the volatile
braaxa that they are not unfrequently rhr.wn dowr. uy
ficediess drivers,

Another class of work which frequently falls to the lot
of aged womeo is the fatiguing and chilly labour of carry-
ing water, luring the severe weather, to houses wh::re
the fountains and pumps are froz..:n. As some :,f the
supplied live on the iourt it or fifth floors of the tall
le,,uses, the treadmill task of the infirm poor creatures
is trdly- p by the two sous charged per baeliet.
A dm d class of severe labour, often imposed on women
11„,e, is the ,awing aid cutting up of wood for feel,
hich they do in all weathers in the exposed and
owl:Lily court-yards. At the wood-stores purchasers can
oon'y procure wood to large pieces as it comes from
.! forest ;it is ther,,fare a trade to cut up the blocks
logo convenient lengths for the fire-places, and near
th • woof stores is generally seen a collection of men
awl woolen, waiting to be engaged for that purpose.
To: women are singularly expert with their sharp lVtle
saws, which glide rapidly through the logs placed on
a cross legged stand like a portable garden chair ; they
then, unassisted, carry heavy loads of the cut wood to
(testi:lotion in the cellars or up the eternal stairs,
and ti.Lallv, with a few sous, and the mighty perquisr,e
et the saw-dug-, they set uff happy and singing to seek
simil tod.

FAsittON OF 13zAttos.—"The hideous disguise of men
wearing their beards unshaven is becoming very pre-
v in France. At. Ai times niustachioa and whis-
kc-• have b.-en eherisl,ed here ; but at present the
us f the razor is going out of date, and
it yr:u go to place, or by a public cori-
eyilice, you will tit,' -4i. least half the men with boards
allowael g‘ow. N ,ir this fashion may be passable in
the Eait, wLitt tiie beard, never having boon cut, is
ficx;ble, :toil of one uniform hue with the hair ;
but far d flercitt is the else among Europeans, whose
beards are converted into bristles from having been early
shioied, and these bristles are of every tint from black,
rusty, brown, red, yellow, drab, to white. In the army
t'nere is no regulation on this point, and in the same ra-
g:l:lora you will sec some officers with small mustachios
ooly, some with loos pointed ends like awls, others
wish iperely a tip un the under lip, others with a fringe
of whiskers entirely round the chin, and some faces in
which one ma) look in vain for mouth or chin, so com-
pletely ,re they buried in the whole beard. Then, there
ore peaked beards, and squared beards, and rounded
beards ; smoothed beards and curled beards ; beards
.‘ dressed with oil" (like Fontenelle's asparagus); beards
polished ..sith blacking, called cirage de bathe ; beards
steeped overnight in sugar and water to make thin
crisp ; in Int, from the abomination of the long beards,
and the abomination of the equally long hair behind, it
is sorte'..'imes difficult when the hat is on to distinguish
the Moat from the back l—Mornirig, Chronicle.

THE WEATHER.--This morning we have
St continuance of the thaw with all its comfortless conco-
mitants. Yesterday afternoon we had a fall of sno.v.
Within the twenty-four hours immediately preceding six
o'clock, P. si., there were several remarkable changes in the
weather. The minimum temperature in the Zoological-
gardens, in the Regent's-pal k, at six o'clock yesterday
morning, was at 19 deg. Fahrenheit. At Hackney the
thermometer at ten o'clock on Tuesday night was 33 deg.,
yesterday morning at seven o'clock it was 28 deg., and
at noon stood at 36 deg. About noon there was a fall of
rain, which soon afterwards turned to snow, which in many
protected parts settled deep. The early thaw in the
morning rendered travelling through the principal streets
very unpleasant. The frost in the night, which was very
severe, rendered the streets dangerous. Most of the om-
nibuses from the suburban districts came in with one or
more extra horses. On inquiry at the Birmingham and
other railway stations It was ascertained that there was no
delay in the arrival of any of the trains, or the branch
coaches connected therewith. State of the River.—The
rain and thaw of yesterday considerably diminished the ice
in the river, but there still remain vast fields of ice drifting
up and down with the tide, and obstructing the navigation
to a great extent. The tiers of shipping off the Tower,
Custom-house, Rotherhithe,and Ratcliff still remain locked
in the ice, which extends in a continuous sheet half-way
across the river at those places, and during the last few
days has done great mischief to the craft and s hipping
Not more than ten steamers have gone up and down the.
Pool during the last five days, and some of them have
worked their way along with great difficulty.—( From our
Second Edition of Last Night.)
TRANQUILLISATION OF THE COUNTY Ow
LIIMICK.—Mr. Steele has just returned in a chaise orna-
mented with laurel. He has been triumphantly succes:-
ful. The people of Patrickswell, Adare, Rathkeale, the
Strand, Croom, &c. &c., organized themselves into
O'Connell's police to put down the disturbers. This
morning at day.break, the arms taken from a person in the
employment of Mr. Lyons, of Croom, were returned, and
Mr. Steele expects that on Sunday, at that town, he will
get almost all that have been taken.—Lintrick Reporter,
SUICIDE.—For some time past a number of
panes of glass Lave been cut out and stolen from the large
unoccupied hotel at the Queensferry-road, at the head of
the new read to Granton Pier. A watch was set, and on
Tuesday last a glazier belonging to Leith was caught in
the act of cutting out panes. He was apprehended and
brought to the Stockbridge watch-house, where shortly
afterwards he committed suicide by hanging himself.
Edinburgh Courant;