THE DEMONSTRATION WORK 



There was so much encouragement and exhilaration in the 

 recital of such achievement that one naturally felt an impulse 

 to go up higher. Accentuated by such feelings the suggestion 

 was made that the party go to the top of Washington Monu- 

 ment. The suggestion was adopted. As the elevator climbed 

 up in this great shaft, which is 555 feet and eight inches above 

 the placid waters of the Potomac below, the writer recalled 

 the motto printed on the aluminum apex of this great obelisk. 

 On this apex are two Latin words, as follows: ''Laus Deo,'' 

 which mean "Praise to God." Even then as the vision was 

 enlarged and the horizon extended across the Maryland and 

 Virginia hills, it was realized that here was a line of approach 

 and a method of work which would aid thousands of girls and 

 their mothers and thus brighten as many homes from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. Here indeed was a work, which would^ 

 praise God by helping humanity. It was really a new edu^ 

 cation. It made one remember a quotation from Dr. Hodgej 

 as follows: ''Learning those things in nature that are bes 

 worth knowing to the end of doing those things which make^ 

 life most worth living." 



The appointment of women county agents and the organ- 

 ization of Girls' Clubs went forward apace. In 1911 State 

 Agents were appointed in more than half of the Southern 

 States. In 1912 the rest of the states came in. All began 

 appointing home demonstration agents and enrolling the girls 

 as rapidly as the work could be cared for. The following 

 paragraph is taken from a report at the close of 1913 : 



"In the Canning Clubs of the Southern States, there were 

 20,060 girls enrolled in 1913. The 4,202 girls who sent in reports 

 put up 1,032,115 cans of tomatoes and 522,147 cans of other products 

 worth $180,420.05. Ten Mississippi girls made a profit of $868.66 

 from ten tenth acre gardens at an average cost of $29.93. The best 

 county record is that of Etowah County, Alabama, where 104 girls 



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