"Willard means to will! Willard means to will!" Frankie said to herself. " I will to get a mechanical helper for Mother. After all, if Father and Oliver can have a mechanical reaper to make the farm work easier, Mother should have something to make her work lighter. Every housewife needs a mechanical helper, for her work never comes to an end."

In time, young Frances Willard did find a helper for her mother. When she was determined to do something, Frances usually did it— even if she sometimes did it in an unusual way.

For example, she was determined to ride even though Father did not believe in horseback riding for girls. The best substitute for a horse she could find was her pet cow, Dime. Dime would dance for her, but riding her around the farm was just too much. The results were funny and almost tragic.

One day Father unwittingly predicted Frances' future when he said, "Frankie, you are always crusading for something!" As she grew older, Frankie became increasingly aware of the social subjection of women. Again and again, the determined girl set her will against established customs.

After graduating from a small women's college, Frankie began her exciting career. She battled against great odds, but she willed to succeed. As the years passed, she became an outstanding teacher, organizer, and administrator.

Throughout her adult life, Frankie crusaded for the rights of women. She helped women to understand their own dignity and importance in society. She gave them courage to speak up for their rights as Christian women and good citizens. The popular belief that a woman could not be womanly outside the home gave way in the face of Frances Willard's womanly qualities.

Frances Willard's efforts contributed to today's general acceptance of the ideas of higher education for women and of the right of women to enter the professions. They made possible the existence of many women's organizations and of the strong stand which those organizations have taken on temperance, politics, and civic duty.

Miriam E. Mason, the author of Frances Willard: Girl Crusader, needs no introduction to readers of the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. In addition to this new volume, she has written six others, ranging all the way in subject from Dan Beard to William Penn.

From the dust jacket