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David Brooks: And I'll close with one other example of someone I also have come to admire
greatly, who was also transformed by her college experience. And this woman is Frances Perkins,
who was the first woman in the Cabinet, FDR's Cabinet, Secretary of Labor. She's born on
April 10, 1880, goes off to Mount Holyoke, which then as now is a remarkable institution.
She's in the Class of 1902. She was really good at English and history, really bad at
chemistry, so they made her major in chemistry because they figured if she can tackle that,
whatever life throws at her, she'll be able to handle. Holyoke also ignited their moral
passions, it was a time of the Social Gospel, and what they did was they send young women--
remember, 1902 -- to Tibet, to Pakistan, to Africa, on their own on missionary trips.
Mary Lyon, the founder, had a phrase: "Do what nobody else wants to do, go where nobody
else wants to go." And so they were fired with this passion to live a life of service,
but also of steadfastness. And Perkins did not go abroad, she went to Chicago, she worked
for Jane Addams at Hull House and then she came to New York, and then she had this climactic
moment in 1913. She's at a brownstone on the north side of Washington Square Park and they
hear a commotion, they run outside into the park, they look across Washington Square and
they see a fire. And she stumbled across this famous fire, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Fire. And she looks up, and she sees what she thinks are the factory workers throwing
bundles of clothing out the windows. But in fact, it was like 9/11, the people were jumping
to their deaths rather than being burned to their deaths. And she watches 57 people go
over. And she sees this and at that moment dedicates the rest of her life to worker safety
and finds her calling in that way. One of my favorite stories about her was she goes
up to Albany, she's lobbying for worker safety, but the Tammany Hall politicians will not
take her seriously because she's a 28-year-old woman in Albany in, whatever, 1920. But she
keeps a folder at home called 'Notes on the Male Mind.' (laughter) And she discovers:
'They won't take me seriously, but they all love their mothers.' So she dresses like an
85-year-old woman, with pearls, gray frumpy hat, tri-corner hat, and gets the nickname
'Mother Perkins.' And at 28 becomes a very effective lobbyist for worker safety legislation.
But she was fired (up) because she went to a school that didn't only focus on the technical
skills, but really lit up... an internal side."