"That wall caught Daddy; but it was so old and thin it didn't crush
him. Oh! _How_ I worry if that alarm rings!"
"But," put in Nancy, "it's _man's_ work. Pshaw!! What good am _I_? Why,
I couldn't do a thing around that factory, right now! Look at my arm!
About as big as a ball bat!" and as Frank took that sad, tiny form in
his arms, Gadsby said:--
"All throughout Natural History, Nancy, you will find man built
big and strong, and woman small and frail. That is so that man can
obtain food for his family, and that woman may nourish his offspring.
But today, I am sorry to say, you'll find girls working hard, in
gymnasiums, fondly hoping to attain man's muscular parity. How silly!!
It's going straight against all natural laws. Girls _can_ find a lot of
bodily good in gymnasiums, I'll admit! but _not_ that much. And as for
your 'ball-bat' arm, as you call it, what of it? You'd look grand, now
wouldn't you, with Frank's big oak-branch arms hanging way down to your
shins. But that ball-bat arm can curl around your tiny baby as softly
as a down pillow. Aw, darling! _Don't_ say you can't do anything;
for _I_ know you can. How about our old Organization of Youth days?
You,----"