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Show I Cl H EK t VJ VA L of te 5 A M.f L Ei: IB HE revival of the sampler, which was the most popular sort of fancy work some fifty or one H I hundred years ago, is occupying the minds of mothers with yonng H daughters, and the quaint fashion is being used to familiarize the student withhe intricacies of the embroidery art. It appeals to older women hecausc It re- Hl calls to their mind the many days when. H as children, they toiled so assiduously nl Hl their embroidery frames, working with H painstaking effort all the many curious H designs that we sec to-day in the pamper PJ which have been handed down from au H cider generation. H In the eyes of experienced embroider? H teachers the revival of the sampler is bound to exert an (important influence on H the art of x-mbroidery and in all schools H 'hcre embroidery is taught the sampler H Jb being recommended as a valuable aid-Hl aid-Hl Jnnct It makes work a play and nctJ H 3B a stimulus to more ambitious efforts H Viier on. Teachers say that their pupils H are much more apt to go on with their H rnbroidcry once the instruction is stopped H X they hn.ro at hand their samplers filled B rith pretty patterns to refer to. H In contrast to the quaint and piot- B trcsquc specimens which have been H wnded down from a preceding generation H he newest samplers do not aim at much H lubor.ition of design or lean toward any H eiidency to decorative effect. The pres- H Hit day sampler is more stereotyped Id H ippcarancc, although it is frequently dig- H lificd by a border. It usually excludes all H minerals and letters, except in the case H if the Russian embroidery samplers, H rliere the a'lphabct in a great variety of H 'esigns is of great value for the benefit Hf f the girl who decorates her trousseau H Incn with her initial1; in cross stitch. N 0 enrions zoological or botanical specimens, no windmill or ;ate H post. Gardens of Eden or Snlo- J 9on's Temples nor any of .the amazing and wonderful decorative failure which I Colonial maidens were wont to produce , nre seen on the modern samplers, nor is there any sentiment such as the following ' to lend a touching emphasis to the creation crea-tion of tho twentieth century juiaidcus handiwork: The girl of pure and simple heart Disdains through life a double part , She never needs the screen of lies ller inward bosom to disguise In place of lines such as these, which I decorated the sampler of young New England girls s'omc fifty year-s irgo. and the many odd patterns just mentioned, there arc rows and rows of designs or isolated iso-lated motifb in Russian cross stitch, reti celln, Irish crochet, drawn work. Ilar-dnnger Ilar-dnnger any, in 'fact, of the suggestions applicable to tho embroidery of the day which may be needed at a moment's notice. no-tice. Usually scrim, canvas, Italian linen, linen lawn, crash or whatever the material ma-terial particularly suited to the style of needlework mny be is used as a foundation. founda-tion. The samplers are cut in n squam about Gtcen inches ' each way, and hemmed fieatly or perhaps finished with cat stitch, cross stitch or hemstitch The sort of samplers most In evidence are undoubtedly those of Italian lace, reti-cclla reti-cclla embroidery and Russian cross stitch and those for darning patterns, for the worker finds it a great convenience to kpep together for ready reference samples of all the various stitches used in one kind of embroidery or lace making. SO it is in catering to this need that the modern sampler has been created But aside from these more practical specimens not a few mothers arc teaching their. small girls the first principles of embroidery on samplers which are precise reproductions of tbos done by themselves a3 schoolgirls. In this manner the tiny ncedleworkers become familiar with many things, not- 'y the use of the needle, but mWQ 5$ One of Mrs Russell Safe's American Sampler Presented to the Metropolitan Museum I Ah - Jl4 7J TroiTi thr Mrtronoliinn Museum of Art " m . SMttif K w J. "J ; mm -$h 4Wd life 'Wm wS-ft Wmk - mSwv l Willi Bf'fl htwsmw f HI 77 An. Old English Sampler mki From the Metropolitan Museum ol Art I) ' P A Heart Shaped Sampler of 1795 ( 0j dexterity of the hand aud the training nl the eye. In the olden time the making of samplers sam-plers constituted a very important par,t of a girl's education. Xiv it is perhaps of1 less importance than any other. Then deportment de-portment came first in Ihe category of necessary training, and following iu the order were painting, embroidery aud the three R's. This constituted the curricu-) lum of the ui erase young lady'ri day atj boarding school, and fur more attention, it must be admitted, was paid to the pci-l .fection of needlework ns exhibited in thoj sampler than is bestowed on manual train-irg train-irg or domestic science to-day. Then girl were educated to become home makers Now the training is all toward the coiu-1 1 nicrnal. cnmi though there might be no immndiato prospect of the worker's entering enter-ing the hfltl uf competition. It is only recently that efforts have been made to preserve the old time samplers, but to-day no trouble is considered too si cut to secure these quaint cam as pieces for preservation. High prices arc being paid for them both in this country and England. Only recently soccimens in New York sold at antique shops for SI'.O. ?40 and oO. So, taking into consideration the value of thes quaint relies, there is every reason to suppose that the very samplers sam-plers now being done by young needlewomen needle-women may some time become objects of quite as much curiosity to generations to come. NEARLY every old family has somewhere some-where nniong its archives oue or more samplers which stand as patent evidence of Ihe skill of their ancestor Some are moth eaten nnd tttne worn, but j hey still command repcct and attention because of the hamls'tlml wrought them. Some are handsomely framed in 9I1I mahogany, ma-hogany, glass covered and hung nu the wall; some are preserved in curio cabinets, cab-inets, and still others have been presented to museums to stand for all time as interesting in-teresting specimens of the needlework of u past generutiou. Many nre tho collections which have of lalo been made of these old time sain- piers One woman prominent in New York ocicty has at her summer homo at Rve a large and varied collection numbering num-bering many hundreds. Mrs. Rusoll Sage has gathered together some particularly interesting ones, several of which have been presented to tl Metropolitan Museum. Mu-seum. One of these is included in llic Holies collection of furniture, and. huug-lug huug-lug on the wall, glass covered and framed m gilt, is quite as interesting to visitors as nnv of the old tune furniture gathered gath-ered there. It is typical of the great majority ma-jority of American samplers of fifty or one hundred yenrs ago, embroidered as it is with quaint floral decorations and the name of the worker. Unlike most s.implers no date is given nor is Ihe age of the worker indicated. In another part of the Museum is hung an English sampler of the date of 1S0S, bearing no name but several Initials, presumably pre-sumably those of tlie.einbroidcrer. worked I into the canvas in cross stitch. The figure 12" encircled by a wreath indicates, doubtless, that a girl of that age was responsible re-sponsible for the handiwork. It is a most interesting bit of embroidery aud well worth studying if only for the design .for never was a more curious collection 'of birds beasts and fowls gathered to gether outside the ark than is shown 01 tins old fashioned sampler. S STYLE in vogue in the early Englisl davs is seen In the heart shaped snm , pier shown in the illustration. AVi 1 1 jno stretch of the imagination it coult 'easily serve as a valentine or Jove tokei j from ;r girl to her sweetheart in this pre jent day of grace, 1011. Though distluctlj 'modern in appearance its looks belle it I age, for it beats the datit 171)15 on the faci jof it. I Worked on canvas, which, considerin( (its j cars, is marvellously well preserved the sampler Is becomingly finished with i j ribbon bolder ' shirred into dccoiativi j rosettes, while scattered over its surfaci 'here and there arc many curious emblem! 'indicative of the fashion of the times From the three signatures worked intohi fabric the sampler was evidently the worl cf three friends Mary Ives, Jane Mumei laud Ilanuah Thompson nnd the quoin sentiment appended. "Be unto me kini land true ns I be unto you," was doubtlosi the motto on the bo"sis of which .the friend 'ship of the three was founded. WHEN the samplers first came b notice here little order was used ii arranging the patterns and they wer placed hit or miss over the canvas, bu I later alphabets nnd figures Tor marKim u liuen w.-rc addod. then designs which cculc 'be used in imitating lopculry were Intro- . dneed Canvas was invariably the foiinda- ( ' material, and Ihe patterns ami . V H ins were worked with thread, lk ol wool in Plain colors or done n ilrnwi I woifc in precisely the fashion in vogut a r'u might seom ns if no especial unl- formitv in the matter of size was oh- , Z "c 1 but while most of Ihe more mod- . J c r. h ampler were square, tho oMc.t 'specimens were long and ..arrow- hile n lwou.cn of Ipisiire did the work for oc- XTonJl was really a part of the your,, IgK education. As a rule, school mis- ;,h kept a stock on hand, to be copied i whole or in part, by the ...cmbc of o r floek. As a child worked but a abort time every day on a sampler can be imagined It look time to complete one of the more complicated sort. I Even little children were taught the art 1 in a sinYpic way. but in Ihe case of the , older girls, the work, when l.nml.cil. was framed and hung on the wall, reprccm- ing a sort of diploma- 1 1 was supposed to , teach nbt only embroidery but gcogra- phv. ff the map samplers were nt one i time quite popular. They consisted of the outlines of various countries, including includ-ing physical features, such as mountain ranges and rivers, no ic 'i - possible for one to sew a map sampler , without getting some knowledge of the country illustrated. . J No Ic'fift a personage than Mr. Ruskin. j in more receut years, subscribed to the lvalue of the sampler. He declared that I the making of samplers was of the utmost -importance, possibly because of Ihcfnet that his mother, a most accomplished i needlewoman, was an expert worker in j this style of handicraft. It i.sJsaid on one occasion, when a con- , troverey arose in the papers as to what 'sort of work should find a place in public museums. Mr. Ruskin suggested, nmong iothcr things, samplers, as representative. ; bno doubt, of the sort of needlework in i I vogue at the time V. However, it must not be suppc-Eod that this style of embroidery had its origin in fc recent years or that it was done otily in this country and 'England. On the con- ' trary. it is recorded that in nearly every country of the Continent, at least in Germany, Ger-many, Prance, Spain. Portugal and LIoI- ' land, specimens of this sort of work nr j I seen, many of them in imitation of ran 1 old tapestries. j . TIIE making of samplers, it is said, was the occupation not only of young girls, but of gentlewomen as j well. As a matter of fact, it is on recor 1 - that when needlework was thec' . M i pastime of the nobility the first sa W. came into England from a relj Ap. W i tablishmcnt on the Continent, y 5-26-1 wk . women of wealth nnd pos . i probabililv samplers wcrofK, with bath, 1 land long before the sineto cellar. ',- .i ... -vr,1 Qulncy. Bell ml i from the fact that M' 5-24.tf W -'siiearc both mention the jB ; "romus" and the lattom j0use 790 Kj ? NightJ)reaui." 5-23-lwk Wl 2i During Catherine de MM said women devoted aUn'shedf oot- 111 Mo embroidery, and it pd SL 5-23-lwk j .gather around her the wo, furn,. ffl 1 her family, and frequently gt pnono jMlH u rank who were exiled fron 5-23-lwl& aliiW 2 line needlework in the shapc vlK So it may be that the i3e, close In. lIK sampler is more thnn a pas? 5-23-lwk jiff & Uiat it will not go the way of ' T jil of fashion, but develop lato'iy TeL H iquite ns penn.inent and pictures22-lwk W ' I j many odd and cunous pieces of lit S s that haVe come ilown to us to be c gas M ' in curio cnbincts and museums. ATJoth fl rate tho samplers being made today k m y practical, and that fact alone should s.rc fll i them from oblivion, even though they do W a not approach tho old specimens in point n J t of qualntncss and sentimental fancy. x. Jj f IFj |
