Mary Minds Her Business Part 39

To those who watched the work done by women in the war, neither of the above results will be surprising.

Because of the accuracy of her work, Spencer bearings are giving better satisfaction than ever before.

Because of her dexterity and quickness, we are able to make the following public announcement:

We are raising the wages of every woman in our factory one dollar a day; and we are reducing the price of our bearings ten per cent.

These changes go into effect immediately.

JOSIAH SPENCER & SON, INC.

MARY SPENCER, President.

"There!" said Mary, sitting up in bed and making a gesture to the world outside. "That's what women can do! ... Are you going to boycott us now?"

CHAPTER x.x.xI

If you can imagine a smiling, dreamy-eyed bombsh.e.l.l that explodes in silence, aimed at men's minds instead of their bodies, rocking fixed ideas upon their foundations and shaking innumerable old notions upon their pedestals until it is hard to tell whether or not they are going to fall, perhaps you can get an idea of the first effect of Mary's advertis.e.m.e.nt. Wherever skilled workmen gathered together her announcement was discussed, and nowhere with greater interest than in her own home town.

"Seems to me this thing may spread," said a thoughtful looking striker in Repetti's pool-room. "Looks to me as though we had started something that's going to be powerful hard to stop."

"What makes you think it's going to spread?" asked another.

"Stands to reason. If women can make bearings cheaper than men, the other bearing companies have got to hire women, too, or else go out of business. And you can bet your life they won't go out of business without giving the other thing a try."

"Hang it all, there ought to be a law against women working," said a third.

"You mean working for wages?"

"Sure I mean working for wages."

"How are you going to pa.s.s a law like that when women can vote?"

impatiently demanded a fourth.

"Bill's right," said another. "We've started something here that's going to be hard to stop."

"And the next thing you know," continued Bill, looking more thoughtful than ever, "some manufacturer in another line of business--say automobiles--is going to get the idea of cutting his costs and lowering his prices--and pretty soon you'll see women making automobiles, too. You can go to sleep at some of those tools in a motor shop. Pie for the ladies!"

"What are us men going to do after a while?" complained another. "Wash the dishes? Or sweep the streets? Or what?"

"Search me. I guess it'll come out all right in the end; but, believe me, we certainly pulled a bonehead play when we went on strike because of those four women."

"I was against it from the first, myself," said another.

"So was I. I voted against the strike."

"So did I!"

"So did I!"

It was a conversation that would have pleased Mary if she could have heard it, especially when it became apparent that those who had caused the strike were becoming so hard to find. But however much they might now regret the first cause, the effect was growing more irresistible with every pa.s.sing hour.

It began to remind Mary of the dikes in Holland.

For centuries, working unconsciously more often than not, men had built walls that kept women out of certain industries.

Then through their own strike, the men at New Bethel had made a small hole in the wall--and the women had started to trickle through. With the growth of the strike, the gap in the wall had widened and deepened. More and more women were pouring through, with untold millions behind them, a flowing flood of power that was beginning to make Mary feel solemn. Like William the Thoughtful, she, too, saw that she had started something which was going to be hard to stop....

All over the country, women had been watching for the outcome of her experiment, and when the last announcement appeared, a stream of letters and inquiries poured upon her desk.... The reporters returned in greater strength than ever.... It sometimes seemed to Mary that the whole dike was beginning to crack.... Even Jove must have felt a sense of awe when he saw the effect of his first thunderbolt....

"If they would only go slowly," she uneasily told herself, "it would be all right. But if they go too fast..."

She made a helpless gesture--again the gesture of those who have started something which they can't stop--but just before she went home that evening she received a telegram which relieved the tension.

"May we confer with you Monday at your office regarding situation at New Bethel?"

That was the telegram. It was signed by three leaders of labour--the same men, Mary remembered, whom Judge Cutler had seen when he had visited headquarters.

"Splendid men, all of them," she remembered him reporting. "I'm sure you'd like them, Mary."

"Perhaps they'll be able to help," she told herself. "Anyhow, I'm not going to worry any more until I have seen them."

That night, after dinner, two callers appeared at the house on the hill.

The first was Helen.

Dinner was hardly over when Mary saw her smart coupe turn in to the garage. A minute later Helen ran up the steps, a travelling bag in her hand. She kissed her cousin twice, quotation marks of affection which enclosed the whisper, "Do you mind if I stay all night?"

"Of course I don't," said Mary, laughing at her earnestness. "What's the matter? Wally out of town?"

"Oh, don't talk to me about Wally! ... No; he isn't out of town. That's why I'm here.... Can I have my old room?"

She was down again soon, her eyes brighter than they should have been, her manner so high strung that it wasn't far from being flighty. As though to avoid conversation, she seated herself at the piano and played her most brilliant pieces.

"I think you might tell me," said Mary, in the first lull.

"I told you long ago. Men are fools! But if he thinks he can bully me--!"

"Who?"

"Wally!" Mary's exclamation of surprise was drowned in the ballet from Coppelia. "I don't allow any man to worry me!" said Helen over her shoulder.

"But, Helen--don't you think it's just possible--that you've been worrying him?"

A cras.h.i.+ng series of chords was her only answer. In the middle of a run Helen topped and swung around on the bench.