But however much they might now regret the first cause, the effect was growing more irresistible with every passing 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....