"Mercy! Do you do that?"
"She seems to be doing it now," Blakesly said.
"I am one of the teachers," Miss Powell replied, dropping to the floor.
It was glorious to see how easily she seized a heavy dumb-bell and swung it above her head. The front line of her body was majestic as she stood thus.
"Gracious! I couldn't do that," exclaimed Mrs. Blakesly.
"No, not with your style of dress," replied her husband.—"I have to pin her hat on this year," he said to Ware.
"I love it," said Miss Powell, as she drew a heavy weight from the floor and stood with the cord across her shoulder. "It adds so much to life! It gives what Browning calls the wild joy of living. Do you know, few women know what that means? It's been denied us. Only the men have known
"'The wild joys of living! the leaping from rock
up to rock,
The strong rending of boughs from the fir tree,
the cool silver shock
Of a plunge in the pool's living water.'
I try to teach my girls 'How good is man's life, the mere living!'"
The men cheered as she paused for a moment flushed and breathless.