Sensing the need of a fresh topic, Dexter said, “Say, I was pleased to see so many girls at work in your Naval Yard, Admiral.” “Ah, I’m glad you noticed,” the commandant said. “The girls have surpassed our highest expectations. You’d be surprised—I know I was—they actually have some advantages. They’re smaller, more limber; they can fit inside spaces the men can’t. And housework makes them dexterous, all that knitting and sewing, darning socks, mincing vegetables…” “We treat our girls too gently, that’s a fact,” declared a dyspeptic-looking
