 The DuPont Cavalcade of America, starring Helen Hayes. Good evening, this is Helen Hayes. Tonight, our cavalcade goes back over a century to the Chester Valley in Pennsylvania. Here live the young Quaker mother, Rebecca Lucan. By an accident of fate, she became responsible for the most important industry in the valley, the Brandywine Ironworks. Today, that ironworks bears her name, Lucan Steel Company, the world's largest plate mill. But before we begin our story, here's Bill Hamilton for the DuPont Company. Thank you, Miss Hayes. Ladies and gentlemen, a small rug on a bare floor is one of the dangerous spots in any home. 17,000 people are killed each year in their own homes, in falls falling downstairs, falling in the bathtub, falling on slippery sliding rugs. To help prevent such rugs from slipping or creeping, the DuPont Company manufactures rug anchor. DuPont rug anchor is a scientifically surfaced sponge rubber underlay which goes between the rug and the floor. Rug anchor is available in leading department stores and is another of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. And now, woman of steel, starring Helen Hayes as Rebecca Lucan's on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. Help me, Rebecca. I must get up. I must work. Rebecca, this couldn't be the end. It couldn't be no, Charles. No, they must be patient. I wish I had told you, Rebecca, the mill in all our circumstances are in desperate straits. Charles, they will get well, they must. And until then, Shadrack Grimes will run the mill. Shadrack Grimes. He is a good man, is he not? Remember, he's a good man. He is a good man, is he not? Remember this, Rebecca. Shadrack is an ambitious man. Ambition makes men strong and weak, good and evil. Charles, please don't talk anymore. Be must-rest. Rebecca, I have lain in this bed thinking after many evenings when we have read from Shakespeare to gather her. Shall I read to thee now? No, thank thee. The page, I think, of most I'll remember well. Rebecca, listen to me. Good or racial, what a wounded name, thing standing thus unknown shall live behind me. If thou didst ever hold me and thy heart absently from the fivacity of wild, and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain to clear. I understand, Charles. Charles, look at me. Charles, Charles. In 1825, when Rebecca Lukens became the widow of Charles Lukens, she was still a young woman, but already she was the mother of four children. Well, as she turned to face the future, there was but one person in the family who could give her aid, Solomon Lukens, her husband's older brother. Rebecca, I know nothing of the iron business, but I can recognize a zero when I see it. But we must find a way to go on. I tell thee, there is no money. But Charles said the whole country would soon need boilerplate. That is why he converted the milk, and I'm sure he was right. He must have been. My dear Rebecca, if thee had a fortune, thee still couldn't run an iron mill. Thee is a woman. Aye, Solomon, there's always someone to remind me that I am only a woman. Do they think the mother of four children can forget that? Say, Father, ma'am. Yes, Mariah. Shadrach Grimes is here to see you. Ask him to come in. Yes, ma'am. I am glad he is here. He is our superintendent at the mill, and he doesn't agree with thee, Solomon. He thinks I should go on. Good afternoon, ma'am. Shadrach. This is my brother-in-law, Solomon Lukens. How do you do? How do you do? Mr. Grimes, after a study of the books, I don't see how you can encourage Mrs. Lukens to continue. Well, I'm not Mr. Lukens. I'll manage things for her. All she has to do is set her home here like she always has, and I'll run the mill fine. The owner of an enterprise must know something of its business. Mrs. Lukens knows nothing of making iron. But I do. I was born a poor man, and I've worked guard and learned my business. And I say I can run that mill. Your ambition is commendable, Shadrach Grimes. But if you should fail, my sister-in-law would remain responsible. I cannot stand by and watch my brother's widow and children walk into poverty. Solomon, then thee would have me put out the fire at the mill? I am the only man left in this family, Rebecca. And since thee is a woman. I, being a woman, I dare not walk alone. Although it seems to me I have more strength to go on than I have to abandon my husband's face. All he needs now is the strength to be wise. Very well, Shadrach. I will go with you. We will put out the fire. It will be a sad sight, ma'am. Let Shadrach attend to that, Rebecca. There's no need to torture thyself, watching the death of the mill. No. My father lighted those fires in 1810, and my husband never once permitted them to die out. Now, if the decision is mine to quench those fires, I will see it through. Come, I believe with Macbeth. If it were done when it is done, then, for a while, it were done quickly. Shadrach. Yes, ma'am. What are all those wagons? Where are those people going? Out of the valley, ma'am. I guess with only a woman left, they knew that mill would close. But where are they going? Stop one of them. I want to talk to them. Hey there. Yeah? Pull up. What for? This is Mrs. Loken. She wants to talk to you. It's the waters family, ma'am. I know. Whoa. Whoa. Howdy, ma'am. How do you do, Enos and Grace Waters? Howdy, ma'am. I stopped you because I wanted to ask you where you are going. Well, we don't know, ma'am. With your father here and your husband, I guess we felt so safe in this valley. We never made plans. I guess we just thought the mill in your family would go on forever. Oh, now stop crying, Grace. My wife feels powerful sad, Mrs. Loken. We all feel sad. We belong in this valley, your family and my family. If we move out of the valley, the valley will die as well as the mill. I want to stay, Enos Waters. Will you stay with me? Rebecca, they can't stay unless the mill goes on. It can go on, Mrs. Loken. So I'll manage things. Enos Waters, if you and your people will stay, I will not close the mill. Well, I never. How could you run a mill? You're a woman. Besides, you've got four children. Yes, Mrs. Waters. I have four children and no husband. What would you do? Don't say no more, Mrs. Loken. There's a look in your eye that my father told me he saw in your father's eye when they called him a fool for starting a mill. When I see that look again, it decides me to stay and see what'll happen. Play it, Ocicero. Turn around and get out. Get out! Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Shadrach, I do intend to go on with the mill. But are these the best terms the and I can have? If you want me to stay and run this mill, that's what I want. Very well. Thank thee, Shadrach. I'll let thee know before the day is out if we can do business. Terms may be steep, but I'm the only one around here who knows how to make iron, and I'm worth it. Good day. Good day, Shadrach. Rebecca, thee can't consider it. His terms are outrageous. I know Solomon, but he knows how to make iron, and I don't. Then thee will be at his mercy. Not if I learn my business, Solomon. Not if I learn how to make iron, too. How can thee? He can't learn it from a book, and thee can hardly go down to the mill. Because I'm a woman? Then thee is going to see something thee hardly expects. He is going to see a woman in that mill, Solomon, at six o'clock tomorrow morning. Shadrach, I want to explain to thee about this order. It's very important. My husband works hard to get it, and it must be perfect. You don't have to come down to the mill to tell me how to make boilerplate, ma'am. That's my business. But this isn't for a boiler. Look here, Mrs. Lookins. You've been giving orders around here for three months now. Now am I running this mill or are you? Shadrach, look over there. What's happening? Shadrach! Shadrach, the rolls are stuck. There's a hot bar stuck in the mill. Shadrach, if the heat of that pot cracks those rolls, it'll be months before we can get out of this. Do something quick. Are you running this mill or am I? If you are, you take care of it. It's no time to talk. The creek's too low to turn the wheel. Enos, can't we force the wheel over? Well, I'll climb out on her and try. Can you give me some help? Shadrach, can't be helping. That's not my work, ma'am. Shadrach, never mind. George Harvey, Charles Hansom, out on the wheel. Hurry. All right, come on, come on. I'll help you. Let me get up there. No, Mrs. Lookins, you stay there. Don't come out here. My way will help. Push that wheel, ma'am. Mrs. Lookins, stay back. Push! Enos, jump! I say thank heaven, ma'am. You didn't get up there. That's no place for a woman. I've been telling her this whole mill is no place for a woman, and it never will be. As long as I own this mill, I'll be here, Shadrach. Then it's no place for me. I say, pig iron and petticoats don't mix, and I'm through. Good day, Mrs. Lookins. Excuse me, ma'am, but that didn't seem so wise to me. What choice have I got, Enos, except to give him the mill? Maybe, but Shadrach Grimes is a mighty good superintendent, and I got a feeling he won't be such a good enemy. You are listening to Woman of Steel, starring Helen Hayes as Rebecca Lookins on The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the Defant Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Rebecca Lookins kept the mill going. Sustained by her husband's dream that iron would one day be vital in building America, she struggled on. And the valley began to think of her only as a businesswoman. But Rebecca had more than the problems of the mill. She remembered she was still a mother. Do keep under the cloak, Martha, dear. Here's our medicine. Sit down, Miss. I must go over accounts with Uncle Solomon. He is waiting. But I want to know what happened to Miss Rosman to speak far. We didn't finish the story. I will be a later and other stories, wonderful stories, of kings and queens and the prince called Hamlet and a woman called Lady Macbeth. Why don't you rest, Solomon? I should go down and look at the mill, Rebecca. The creek is up, and I'm worried. This valley is full of old dams, and if any one of them breaks. Oh, Solomon, sometimes I feel guilty at all the worries I have thrust on thee. How can I ever thank thee for thy help? Rebecca, thee has taught me a good lesson in faith, one I needed. Now I want thee to see the accounts, the book's balance, Rebecca. By a razor's edge, I can see. However, we got through the winter, Solomon, and if nothing happens, if we get orders of better prices, Mrs. Lukens. Yes, Mariah? There's someone to see. It's that Shadrach Grimes. Shall I send him in? Shadrach? Here? Yes, Mariah, ask him to come in. This way, Mr. Grimes. Thank you. I hardly expected to see thee here, Shadrach. I'm sure of that, but does the DNM construction company in Philadelphia mean anything to you, Mrs. Lukens? No. It will when you see this contract I discovered your mill has with them. When I tell you I'm their superintendent. But this is dated before Dr. Lukens died. That's right. But you know how anxious my husband was to get plate orders at that time, and we couldn't fill this order now at prices like this without a law. A contract is a contract, Mrs. Lukens. That's something you'll have to learn. Shadrach, surely thy firm wouldn't hold Mrs. Lukens to that contract if I would bankrupt her mill. Is that her answer? It's all right with me. Oh, I see. Well, Shadrach, the order will be filled. Good day. That's fine, Mrs. Lukens. Very fine talk. Good day. Rebecca, he knows I post was foolish. Anyone can see now that he will have to go into bankruptcy. No, Solomon, I won't do it. Rebecca, be wise. No, Solomon, no. I think there was something very wise in Charles' vision. It is his fate which has pushed me on until, until now. And if, until my road is blocked finally and forever, I cannot and I will not. What, what is this? It's the dam. The mill dam is broken. The dam's gone. The spring slug. I told you the brandy wine was high. Oh, Rebecca, I'm, I'm terribly sorry. Does he realize what this means? Yes, Solomon. It is the end. I know I never would have quenched those fires as long as I lived. Now the brandy wine has put them out for me. Rebecca, why should he come here in the middle of the night? Even if the whole place stood perfect, what sort of mill can they have without the dam? Not enough to fill Shadrack's order. I can see that in the dark. Let me take thee home. This way, Rebecca. Don't go in there. Thee may step off into the current. Solomon. What? Come here. What is it? There, look. It's the fire. Solomon, it's the fire in the furnace. Rebecca, I can't believe it. It's an omen. If the flood didn't put out the fires, I shan't put them out. We'll rebuild the dam. We'll fill that order for Shadrack. In us, in this water. Are you calling me, ma'am? Is the last row of stone in the dam? Well, they're putting it in now. It took a month's work, but we're going to have it done by daybreak. But I don't understand, Ines. I've been down watching the race, and the water is so slow to rise, even with all this rain. Well, I don't know about that, ma'am, but you shouldn't stay here all night watching that. Every thread you've got on is soaked. You're shivering. I'm all right. I'm waiting for Mr. Lukens to come with a pack horse train. He is bringing more iron. We have to get started again, Ines, as fast as we can. Hello? Ain't that him, Mr. Lukens? Solomon, here we are. We've been waiting. I've been hurrying. I wanted to see if the dam was done, and what's happening? It's nearly finished, Solomon, but the water is so slow to rise. Yes, that's what I thought would be. Because it isn't going to rise, Rebecca. What do you mean? I passed a new dam, a building upstream, and a big one. That's what's catching all this rain. I found out there's another ironworks, a building upstream. Another ironworks? Who? Rebecca, I hate to tell thee. They say it belongs to Shadrack Grimes. Shadrack? That's what I guessed. But we must have water. We'll never get it now, just as I told you, ma'am. He'll never give up. Well, I shan't either. I'll just have to convince Shadrack this rain has fallen for all of us. There's no use talking any more, Mrs. Lookins. It's too bad about my dam, but I warned you. The iron business is no place for a woman. All right. I may be a woman, but I think now I'm as good an iron master as thee. And now I give thee warning. Tomorrow I raise my mill dam six inches. That will make the water back up on thee. You can't do that. You'll try and I'll go to law. Let's go to law together, Shadrack. Shadrack Grimes plaintiff against Rebecca Pannock-Lookins, iron master of Jester Cowley in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pleading for an injunction to compel the missing. Rebecca Lookins plaintiff against one Shadrack Grimes of said county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, defendant to compel the said Shadrack Grimes. Solomon. Solomon, I have news. About the trial? What is it, Rebecca? No, no. It's more important than that. This newspaper was sent to me. It's the Baltimore American. Let me read it to thee. Several weeks ago, the first locomotive was run- The first what? Locomotive. It's called the Sturbridge Lion. It's a steam engine made to run on wheels, and it tows several wagons of goods. But listen. A locomotive was run at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Rebecca, I thought thee had news. It was important. I thought it had something to do with this trouble with Shadrack Grimes. It has everything to do with it. I'm going to see him. Why? I'm going to tell him the locomotive is coming. It's coming to take him and all of us far beyond this valley, out into the whole country, the whole world. Shadrack, I've come to thy office again to tell thee I'm going to call off my suit. I thought you'd give up. I want thee to do the same. There you are. And why should I? Because a new day is breaking, Shadrack. And where does it find thee and me? Squabbling over water rights while the rest of the world enters the age of steam. Here, read this dispatch. What is that? It's about the first locomotive in America. Shadrack, this is a new day. A day of transportation better than our pack-horse trains and canal boats. A day when our vision can range beyond the walls of this valley and we can join our work with that of all the people in this land. That's what thee and I must do now, Shadrack. That's our duty. Mrs. Lukens, you talk fine, and I like to hear it. But I don't trust a word of it. Shadrack, what does he mean? I was born a poor man, but I've worked hard so my children could have an education and talk about their dreams like you do. But I ain't going to let your fancy words talk me out of my dreams. Shadrack, let us hope our children can work as hard as we have. But they will need vision, and first we must have vision for them. Shadrack, there's a nation that needs our work as this valley has needed it in the past. Are we going to stay as small as this valley or are we going to grow big enough for the future of our children? Mrs. Lukens, I confess I'm sick of this. Tustlin with a woman in a courtroom is better work than that for a man. There's better work than that for a man or a woman, especially if they're good iron masters like us. Oh, I don't know whether you're saying this for your benefit or mine or all of us, but well, now I'll tell you something. What, Shadrack? I'm not so slow. I was at Honesdale and I saw that locomotive run. No, Dizzy, tell me about it, please. Well, I can tell you they got planned. They want to build more and they need place. There's an order there, Mrs. Lukens, but it's too big for me alone. It needs all of us. Then all of us must work together, Shadrack. Don't worry, wait. Think what you're doing, Mrs. Lukens. We don't know whether this is going to be a success or not. We might lose. Shadrack, we can't lose. I believed in this when it was still my husband's dream and thee and I must believe in it now. For this is not the end of the dream. This is the beginning of a thousand dreams for thy children and mine. All right, Mrs. Lukens. You're as good a businessman as I am and none of you believe in it. I will, too. Good. Now, Shadrack, let's make the most beautiful boilerplate that's ever been seen. Beautiful? Yes, beautiful. Ma'am, let's just make boilerplate ugly as she is. Thank you, Miss Hayes. I'm sure Cavalty's radio audience joins us here at the Longacre Theatre in applauding you and the rest of tonight's cast. Helen Hayes will return in a few moments. But first, here's Bill Hamilton of the DuPont Company. To raise bumper crops, the farmer must beat the weeds or the weeds may beat him. Here, chemical science can be of great help to him. Chemistry has developed a weed-killing compound known as 2,4-D. 2,4-D and DDT are two of the most important chemical aids to agriculture of the past 50 years. DuPont 2,4-D weed killers are now used in almost every section of the country. They offer a broad-scale, economical, comparatively easy way to control weeds against which, until now, there has been no really satisfactory control. In some cases, yields have actually been doubled. DuPont 2,4-D weed killers sprayed from airplanes have given barley growers in California good control of mustard, wild radish and not weed. In North Dakota, weed growers have cleaned out mustard and annual weeds which were choking their fields. In the south, there were weedy fields which gave only five barrels of rice to the acre. Now, they yield 17 barrels after treatment with DuPont 2,4-D weed killers. Think of that, more than three times as much. This same 2,4-D, which is getting such marvelous results for farmers, is also available in a special compound for your own lawn. It can be bought as DuPont Lawn Weed Killer. Weeds wither away and disappear, roots and all, without any harm being done to the grass. With 2,4-D products, it is the formula that counts. The DuPont company, with years of experience in formulating a wide variety of chemical products, has developed 2,4-D compounds that work successfully under all conditions where 2,4-D is recommended. DuPont 2,4-D weed killers helping the American farmer to produce crops that are all-time records, helping you to rid your lawn of weed, are among the DuPont company's better things for better living through chemistry. And now, our star, Helen Hayes. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, just while this broadcast has been going on, 10 Americans have died of cancer. The time has come to do something about it. There's certainly no question about the generosity of the American people when it comes to helping those in trouble. So each and every one of us must give our support to the American Cancer Society's 3-fold program of education, service and research. Let's give, give generously to the American Cancer Society's drive for funds. Thank you. Next Monday night, the Freedom Train will be in Wenatchee, Washington. There, Americans, as thousands before them, will board it to view the precious documents of our liberty. On our broadcast next Monday night, Cavalcade will be especially pleased to present an original radio play, The Man Who Took the Freedom Train, a delightful story about two young Americans and a visit of the Freedom Train in their hometown. Our stars will be Eddie Albert and Shirley Booth. We invite you to listen. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade, Woman of Steel, was adapted by Philip Lewis from an original story by Lucy Kennedy. The music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryant. Featured in tonight's Cavalcade with Helen Hayes for Cameron Prudhomme as Solomon, Everett Sloan as Enos and Ted D'Corsia as Shadrack. This is Ted Pearson inviting you to listen next week to The Man Who Took the Freedom Train, starring Eddie Albert and Shirley Booth. Cavalcade of America is presented each week from the stage of the Longacre Theatre on Broadway in New York and is brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. NBC, the national broadcasting company.