The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-08-01

Plenty to fashion flower whose hue
Would be rlcher than ali ana as fair,
So putting their wis together they
Made one great blossom SO bright and gay,
The lily bes0e IL seemed blurred,
And then they said: I'VE win toss in the air:
So many blue blossom grow everrwhere.
Let this pretty one be q birdI'
A Heroine of To-Day-How the Brooklyn
Bridge was Built.
fIeslie's Boys and Girls Weekiy.l
One OF the orators ~ the opening of the
great Suspension Bridge between Brooklyn
and New York, few weeks ago, lot thu
world into the pretty secret that had been
known up 10 that time only to the men who
were directing the work en- that wonderful
structure.
The secret Was that. during the last ten
yesrs a womans quick mind and fscils 6n-
gers, inspired by witely devotion, bsd
been the medium through which the control.
ing intellect had spoken To the builders.
This woman was Ms. Emily Warren
Roebling, the wife of the Chief Engineer of
The bridge, Colcnel Washington A. Roeb-
ling.
Many men and women, nov that the Clio.
rious fire works are all burned out, the speak
ing done and the great crowds dispersed,
think that the most beautiful moment in sll
that beautiful day was when Mr.. Hewett
the greatest bridge structure of its kind IN
the world.
The men who piled up the great stone
piles, laying their foundations far down IN.
der the river bottom, and then carried the
wires over, one st q time, for the great ca
bles, until they had so many that hsd taey
all been laid together, end TO end, theJ
would have reached more than half way
round the world, really did the easiest part
of the work. They only followed the direc-
items Of one man, who had figured out the
weight ard strength of every wire, and had,
hong before the appearance of the bridge WAS
imagined by the workmen, pictured it all IL
his mind, fixed the place for every stone ana
every wire and determined how much il
would all weigh aud how much 1t would all
carry. The knowledge which no male use
Of had been sccuc1ulsting for hundreds Of
years, and it is wonderful enough that a
man, who had studied specially all his life 10
acquire it. should be sble to keep 1t in his
mind. Wasn't il great deal mora wonder
full then that woman sho.it3 have mastered
III
Men, and boys too, have go. it into their
heads that girls brains are different from
toys brains, and are no. fitted to learn
scientific things. Hasn't Mrs Roeb!ing
taught them otherwise nessly2 She learned
what all her sick husbands drawings aud
figures meant; she learned 20 make calcula-
lions for him; she worried over big bOoks
until she knew what the symbols AMI tigas
and terIns used by engineers meant; and SO
the fitted herself to be the mouthpiece by
which be directed .hs hundreds of men who
worked on the bridge. And all this without
neglecting her domestic duties, without be-
coming less q wifi because she hsd become
an assistant epOinear
But if the men and women who were sur
prised when the learned whist Mrs. R1eb-
ing had done had only reelected little
over what they had read many timas they
would not have thought i. such 8 miracle. af-
Ter eli.
In tire ssme century with Exclid, the
great lSw-giver in geometry, there lived q
woman who laugh. tbs wise people Of
Alsxsrdris s great deal about philoso
ply, which at that time embraced sew
usl Of what are special sciences
now. She was Rypstia, the daughter Of
TtecD, 8 celebrste1 mathematician and as
ironomer in city full o. msthem.ticisns
and astronomers. When her father q ed she
took his p ace and lectured on the greatest
iutjscts which mems minds dared ess ~ ST
that time.
People talk great deal sboa. what m d.
EN- civilization mss done in elevsting women
1iem the low position which once they CO.
cupied; but would il not seam strsnss if we
should read tomorrow that Professor Young
had placed his grest telescope at Prime ton
IN the hands of his bright daughter, aud tha'
che bad begun 10 reach out into the universe
with her mind, and tell the world about tie
size, and motion, ana distsDcea and substance
Of the stsrsf Yet, comparing or Iesrniag
with the learning OF tho wise men in Exypl
300 years ago. this would be nothing more
than Hypatis did.
Coming down to moro recent times, thins
of whst Caroline Hersckel did Shs wal
The sister Of Sir William Hsrolei, the great
est practical astronomer that ever lived, a,C
when be built his great telescope in Eazlznc
sEd began to unravel the groa. mysteries o
tbe heavens, she for years was his bet as sist
ant. All alone she discovered seven comets
and published book adding over 8vs hun
dIed STARS to tho catalogue which was then
stsrdfrd with British astronomers.
King George III. paid Der salary lik