THE DEMONSTRATION WORK 



Mother Walker 



Among the first of the Home Demonstration Agents 

 appointed by the United States Department of Agriculture 

 was Mrs. Dora Dee Walker, of Barnwell County, South 

 Carolina. Mrs. Walker, after the death of her husband, had 

 managed the farm, taught school, established a small can- 

 ning factory, and conducted her home with thrift, enterprise 

 and good judgment until her children were all nearly grown. 

 She had graduated from a high-class women's college before 

 the days of home economics courses, and was a woman of 

 refinement. She had been active in the State School Improve- 

 ment Association and was on the executive committee from 

 her congressional district. 



Her club girls succeeded with tomatoes and then Mrs. 

 Walker led them on to grow and utilize other vegetables. 

 They attracted wide attention by their work with pimiento 

 peppers and caused other counties to follow their examples. 

 They made several thousand dollars out of their new ven- 

 ture the fiirst year. One of these girls bought a bale of cotton 

 with her pepper money and held the cotton for more money 

 at the time the war depressed the price of the South 's great 

 staple. Another girl sold 50 bushels of peppers and hundreds 

 of packets of seeds. She contributed $100 to the family auto- 

 mobile the first year. Mrs. Walker worked out recipes for 

 chutney, relish, catsup, peanut butter, and crystallized fruits 

 which have been widely used. 



Mrs. Walker's good work was soon recognized and she 

 became District Agent and afterwards Assistant State Agent. 

 In this capacity she had a large share in instructing and 

 training the agency force. The county agents soon learned 

 to call her ''Mother Walker." She used her skill and knowl- 

 edge to show them how to start new industries in the homes 



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