THE DEMONSTRATION WORK 



would not, and could not, take place until the home was 

 reached. 



Dr. Knapp realized that the agents before him were work- 

 ing with men and boys. He knew they must help in what 

 he then called the ''third step in the great advance," as he 

 wanted them to get viewpoints and fundamentals. He went 

 deep into the philosophy of the Home Demonstration Work 

 in these quotations : 



"The home eventually controls the viewpoint of a man ; and you 

 may do all that you are a mind to in schools, but unless you reach in 

 and get hold of that home and change its conditions you are nulli- 

 fying the uplift of the school. We are reaching for the home." 



In this same connection he told of a Chinese boy who 

 came to this country and graduated from one of our great uni- 

 versities. People said he would return to China and give them 

 the benefit of American culture. The fact is, he returned to 

 his native land, grew a queue, put on wooden shoes, married 

 a Chinese girl, and when one of the university professors saw 

 him ten years later he looked and acted like all the rest of 

 them. His home training had asserted itself. The schools and 

 colleges were not powerful enough to counteract such a force. 

 Nobody realized more than this great agricultural philosopher 

 that the home is the fundamental unit of all organized society. 



Other extracts from the same address show not only that 

 he was leading the agents to get the right point of view and 

 perspective, but that he wanted them to get the right methods 

 of approach and procedure. He did not fail to impress them 

 with the magnitude of the endeavor and the rare good judg- 

 ment that would be required. These sentences are typical : 



"The matter of paramount importance in the world is the re- 

 adjustment of the home. It is the greatest problem with which we 



[84] 



