Show gentle woman who is an expert machinist MRS PETERS LIKES NOISE AND GRIME OF A FOUNDRY S A SKILLFUL MOLDER can melt and pour metal as well as any skill d workman be comes proficient through p of husband milwaukee that a woman Is capa me of the development of mechanical skill equal to that of any man Is fully exemplified in the cise of mildred D peters of rice lake WIs a young woman who by her own desire and love for machinery and under the tutorship of her husband has become a full fledged machinist after three years of work in her husband s machine shop and foundry known as the rice lake iron works mrs peters has become so proficient that there is now no job comes into the shop that is beyond her skill she can do anything from making a shrinking fit or key seating a cou pling to manipulating the trip ham mers and other massive machinery in the shop she does not take a back seat for she Is a full fledged machinist any of the skilled machinists who work with her in her husband s es her knowledge of machinery Is not confined to the machine shop for she goes into the foundry which is an ad junca to the shop and there can cast or mold anything in the line of ma chinery even to the po iring of the sizzling hot metal itself in molding which is regarded as requiring much experience and skill to prevent defects in the castings she is perfect she turns out clean cast ings which she pours from the heavy hot ladle very steadily as required in this class ot work it it be a thin plate to be poured fast something that all molders look upon as difficult and often with fear she never falls to get a perfect casting in handling brass she makes those castings without difficulty and melts and pours the metal herself but it is in the machine shop that her heart is set and the noise of the ponderous and powerful machinery Is music to her ears it is to her a hap py diversion from the humdrum and monotony of housework and she en joys it she takes much pride 1 turning out a perfect shafting or set of pulleys or some intricate part of an engine as any housekeeper would in making a good cake 01 in doing a choice bit of embroidery work mrs peters can fire the boiler keep ing up the proper amount of steam and water and can run the engine and more than that she could put it all together again without any brou trou ble were it to be taken apart for her threading a piece of steel a job requiring accuracy and speed at the same time she does with as much ease as threading a needle for sew ing although the operation Is indeed very different in making a shrinking fit where in a casting must be heated to a tain temperature to avoid bursting a job in which all machinists often fall she has no trouble this Is a job that Is common in all large engine works As one watches her at her work he Is impressed by the scene of the big machines respond ng with surges and groans to the delicate touch of these feminine fingers since it has always been believed that good machinists must have a nat ural talent to be able to develop the skill successfully it makes this worn an s work all the more wonderful none of the timidity and fear that woman has as a rule around machin ery Is seen in mrs peters conduct in the shop she pursues the work with a confidence that Is associated only with an expert knowledge ot the business that mrs peters Is the only woman in america with the pluck to tackle this sort ot a business Is probably true she does the work not because she Is compelled but because she finds real enjoyment in the handling of ma chinery there seems to be actual affection in her gentle touch ot the cold steel machines over which she presides in the foundry it must not be interred because mrs peters has proven her adaptability to such a calling that she is lacking in the charms and accomplishments that go to grace womankind the feminine side of her nature Is equally interest ing possessing a good education she can converse intelligently upon most any subject and can play the piano and sing with considerable ability her husband declares she has the most perfect health of any woman be ever saw he says her unusual labor has not tended to detract from her womanliness but that her heart Is as full of tenderness and sym pathy as it was when she became his wife mrs peters when asked bow she happened to learn to work in the shop replied with a modest smile well we had no children and I 1 would get lonesome at home As my husband and I 1 always were compan conable 1 spent much of my time in the shop to be with him I 1 began to use a hammer and a vise occasionally and then I 1 got to trying my hand at making things just tor fun pretty soon I 1 found I 1 could turn out some ot the simple jobs that came in without my husband s instruction naturally idelt an exultant pride over my achievements and wanted to do more difficult things all the time now my husband tells me I 1 am safer in some ot the difficult work than any othel machinist in the shop |