"I have seen women doing other things. In the old world I saw women digging ditches, carrying brick and mortar to the top of high buildings, ploughing in the fields; in fact, working just like men. The great buildings of the World's Exposition erected in Vienna in 1873, were largely the work of women's hands. You are not anxious to exchange dishwashing for such work, are you?" "O, no, indeed; but it is man who plans such work and superintends its doing. A woman could not have planned Brooklyn bridge, for example." "It is quite true that a woman did not plan it, but did you know that it was completed under a woman's supervision?" "No, was it? How did that happen? Tell me all about it." "It happened this way. Mr. Roebling, who was superintending its construction, was taken ill, and his wife took his place and personally gave oversight to every part of the work until it was done. You see, her being a woman did not prevent her doing the work. But if she had been only a careless or an ignorant woman she could not have done it. It was _mind_, you see, and cultured mind at that, which was the master power. If she had not been working with him in making the plans, she could not have worked for him in carrying them out. Instead of lamenting over your sex, you would better rejoice in the fact that you are a _spirit_, and realize that your power in all spheres of activity will be measured by the cultivation of your mental and spiritual powers." "But, father, even if I do cultivate my mind, I shall probably never have an opportunity to do such a grand thing as help to build a Brooklyn bridge." "Probably not, but you can do a greater thing. You can fit yourself to work on finer material than insensate stones. You can mould plastic minds. It is a far greater thing to wield spiritual forces than to manipulate inorganic matter." "But, all men do not merely make _things_. There are great statesmen, great soldiers, great writers." "True, but you would not want to be a soldier, I am sure. To kill is not a glorious profession. And to be a great statesman or writer is not merely a question of sex; it is a question of mind." "Do you think women have as much ability as men? Aren't men really smarter than women?" Mr. Wayne smiled at the girl's eagerness. "I do not compare men and women to decide their relative ability," he answered. "I believe their minds differ, but that does not imply that one is superior and the other inferior. Each is superior in its own place." "But men's minds are so much stronger, father. Women never can be on the same level as men." "Bring me two needles of different sizes from your work basket. Now, tell me, which is superior to the other." "That depends on what you want to do with them," replied Helen. "If you were going to sew on shoe buttons, you'd use this big one. If you wanted to hem a cambric handkerchief, you'd take this fine one."