“When women start to take men’s jobs away—­” began one of the committee.

“But they didn’t,” she said.  “The men quit.”

“When women start to take men’s jobs away from them,” he repeated, “it’s time for the men to assert themselves.”

“We know that you mean well, Miss Spencer,” said another, “but you are starting something here that’s bad.  You’re starting something that will take men’s work away from them—­something that will make more workers than there are jobs.”

“It was the war that started it,” she pleaded, “not I. Now let me ask you something.  There is so much work that has to be done in the world every day; isn’t there?”

“Yes, I guess that’s right.”

“Well, don’t you see?  The more people there are to do that work, the easier it will be for everybody.”

But no, they couldn’t see that.  So Mary had to ring for Joe to bring in the old employment cards again, and that night and all day Sunday, Mrs. Ridge’s company spread the news that four hundred more women were wanted at Spencer & Son’s—­“and you ought to see the place they’ve got for looking after children,” was invariably added to the mothers of tots, “free milk, free nurses, free doctoring, free toys, rompers, little chairs and tables, animals, sand piles, swings, little pails and shovels—­you never saw anything like it in your life—!”

If the tots in question heard this, and were old enough to understand, their eyes stood out like little painted saucers, and mutely then or loudly they pleaded Mary’s cause.

CHAPTER XXV

It sometimes seems to me that the old saying, “History repeats itself,” is one of the truest ever written.  At least history repeated itself in the case of the grinders.

Before the week was over, the places left vacant by the men had been filled by women, and the nursery and kindergarten had proved to be unqualified successes.

Many of the details I will reserve till later, including the growth of the canteen, the vanishing mirror, an improvement in overalls, to say nothing of daffodils and daisies and Mrs. Kelly’s drum.  And though some of these things may sound peculiar at first, you will soon see that they were all repetitions of history.  They followed closely after things that had already been done by other women in other places, and were only adopted by Mary first because they added human touches to a rather serious business, and second because they had proved their worth elsewhere.

Before going into these affairs, however, I must tell you about the reporters.

The day the grinders went on strike, a local correspondent sent a story to his New York paper.  It wasn’t a long story, but the editor saw possibilities in it.  He gave it a heading, “Good-bye, Man, Says She.  Woman Owner of Big Machine Shop Replaces Men With Women.”  He also sent a special writer and an artist to New Bethel to get a story for the Sunday edition.