Other editors saw the value of that “Good-bye, Man” idea and they also sent reporters to the scene.  They came; they saw; they interviewed; and almost before Mary knew what was happening, New Bethel and Spencer & Son were on their way to fame.

Some of the stories were written from a serious point of view, others in a lighter vein, but all of them seemed to reflect the opinion that a rather tremendous question was threatening—­a question that was bound to come up for settlement sooner or later, but which hadn’t been expected so soon.

“Is Woman Really Man’s Equal?” That was the gist of the problem.  Was her equality theoretical—­or real?  Now that she had the ballot and could no longer be legislated against, could she hold her own industrially on equal terms with man?  Or, putting it as briefly as possible, “Could she make good?”

Some of these articles worried Mary at first, and some made her smile, and after reading others she wanted to run away and hide.  Judge Cutler made a collection of them, and whenever he came to a good one, he showed it to Mary.

“I wish they would leave us alone,” she said one day.

“I don’t,” said the judge seriously.  “I’m glad they have turned the spotlight on.”

“Why?”

“Because with so much publicity, there’s very little chance of rough work.  Of course the men here at home wouldn’t do anything against their own women folks, but quite a few outsiders are coming in, and if they could work in the dark, they might start a whisper, ‘Anything to win!’”

Mary thought that over, and somehow the sun didn’t shine so brightly for the next few minutes.  Ma’m Maynard’s old saying arose to her mind: 

“I tell you, Miss Mary, it has halways been so and it halways will:  Everything that lives has its own natural enemy—­and a woman’s natural enemy:  eet is man!”

“No, sir, I don’t believe it!” Mary told herself.  “And I never shall believe it, either!”

The next afternoon Judge Cutler brought her an editorial entitled, “We Shall See.”

“The women of New Bethel (it read) are trying an experiment which, carried to its logical conclusion, may change industrial history.

“Perhaps industrial history needs a change.  It has many dark pages where none but man has written.

“If woman is the equal of man, industrially speaking, she is bound to find her natural level.  If she is not the equal of man, the New Bethel experiment will help to mark her limitations.

“Whatever the outcome, the question needs an answer and those who claim that she is unfitted for this new field should be the most willing to let her prove it.

“By granting them the suffrage, we have given our women equal rights.  Unless for demonstrated incapacity, upon what grounds shall we now deny them equal opportunities?

“The New Bethel experiment should be worked out without hard feeling or rancour on either side.