Woman of the Century/Ella Maria Ballou

BALLOU, Miss Ella Maria, stenographer, born in Wallingford, Vt., 15th November, 1882, and has spent her life in her native State. She was educated in the Wallingford high school and immediately after leaving school began life as a teacher, in which vocation she w as successful, but was rebellious over what she considered the injustice of requiring her to accept for equal service a much smaller compensation than was paid to a man of equal or less ability. After a few years of labor as a teacher, she learned shorthand and adopted it as a life-work. The persistence and thoroughness that had been a characteristic of her girlhood manifested itself in her work, and she went into the courts and wrote out evidence and argument until she became noted for accuracy and skill, and in 1885. upon the unanimous application of the Rutland County Bar. Hon. W. G. Veazey, Judge of the Supreme Court, appointed her the official reporter of Rutland County Court. Hers was the first appointment of a ELLA MARIA BALLOU. woman as official stenographer in Vermont, if not in the United States, her success in her work has been marked and she has also been appointed official reporter of the adjoining county of Addison. When not in court, Miss Ballou does general work in her profession. She has also done some literary work in the line of essays and addresses. Miss Ballou is a practical example of what may be done by women, and while she earnestly claims all her rights as a woman and her full right to have as much pay for her labor as is paid to a man for the same service, she makes no claim to be allowed to vote or hold office. She honors her sex and exalts it to an equality with the other, and yet believes it to be a distinct order of human life.