DOI Heft:
Special winter-number 1896-7
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: The sampler: an appreciation and a plea for its revival
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0383
The Sampler
But the sampler is not only a useful educational steel, and facing the ordeal of elaborate stitchings.
adjunct it is an idyll like Cranfurd as Mrs. The sampler was the little-go of polite education,
Gaskell painted it, one not even confined to the the Newnham and Girton for sweet girl-graduates
domain of our great grandmother. For Elaine of the past. Not only this, it was the diploma of
had hardly " fashioned for merit. Past mastery in jam-
Lancelot's shield a case of making, the compounding of
silk and braided thereupon all • : -.~f^Tff^W^MW^Qi pot-pourri, and the like, left
the devices blazoned on the but transitory results, legends
shield, and added of her wit a which later generations were
border fantasy of branch and S i. - - . - ■ i - Mg\ apt to deem pious, but exag-
flower," unless she had pre- ^B?* * V^i}:^ gerated; but the sampler,
viously achieved a sampler. '- 4' :«- framed and glazed, kept the
Probably no relic of forgot- | '4. ,.1"" j |. V-A-^-i domestic virtues of its owner
ten maids and mothers has so ■ r , r-M before the eyes of her descen-
personal an interest as the J^r ~L -^J \^ |~ -/. . :J dants, as her marble epitaph re-
sampler, with its maiden name ' * ^ . • _ -f corded her more noble virtues
in full, its pious verse, or its in the village church. Indeed,
folk-rhyme. It is a biography s*g . ., ^ ~# K, in certain Dutch samples the
in little, a microcosm of a - ^\ canvas was pre-arranged to
child's eternity, a lasting record pf ' -"''^ ^ \ hold the samplers of many
of patient precision, of careless ._ r-_.'- --- -- ' ^ .-5; generations, each daughter in
drudgery, or of sheer clumsi- "^TS-,'+^'sturn adding her quota to the
ness, whichever be the charac- ' "1'. , ~ y 7 > roll of honour of the family,
ter unwillingly betrayed by its llf^S;'" To-day samplers are not
stitches. .Q-^ £<p<S§ likely to be restored to their
There are few families that *\\.' ' '"^^^i^77''' '-']• ^ past position socially. Proba-
did not possess until lately, ^| j CH^^^^fj j ~ k ^ly, snould they be revived,
among their treasured trifles, __^*&C? -i^,. * sewing-machines will be called
a sampler or two, often merely '■ into play, and the labour of
homely things of alphabets and I I " . " . " " months distanced by the labour
numerals, with the simplest _ of hours. Then, too, we shall
cross-stitching by way of \~ ' be conscious that the design is
border. But these, charming ^ Vv:^:^-~'~~T ~~:.' reckoned as a most important
as they are, do not concern ^-V' 'J", \ £.*, * * xj££.'; factor, that so-called originality
us here. Nor is any plea for o^"^- is deemed the highest virtue,
conscious art put forward on %0S€??' ' • ' Ms'^^- :/- and that orderly following of
the sampler's behalf; it is j$C^Zi )^§§8^ lJj/^^^^nT^ precedent is looked upon as
for its loyal obedience to ^^^'U^C/i&j''w^''^--"J an ignoble shift to deaden
precedent, and its delight in ^^^^^^^/^^^^c^'- one's own personality. For
repeating devices approved by Np^" to-day most people are far less
centuries that the old sampler f^^^'p^J"^^;>^^3^0• eager to make their work art
belongs to the outer courts of ^%^cJ^^^^^-S^J^^%<5^ than to prove themselves to be
art. ' _ _ fo( ^T^.y I If ^ artists'
One can think of nothing V. I *> * To pass from the abstract
to-day more typically feminine to the individual, we may
than this object. There are _-- —— ~:■-i . / .....----- notice first a sampler which is
legends of sickly lads and r ----- ..- '} - - __ dated 1655, and is perhaps the
exiled sailors disporting them- f*"* V" •• .„:.;... most beautiful of all the de-
selves in its manufacture ; but signs illustated here, and one
we doubt if many a sampler— the sampler of joanna warren that has few rivals in Mr.
possibly not a single specimen 1655 Tuer's collection or elsewhere.
—survives with a male name It is signed Joanna Warren,
proudly embroidered across its surface. and dated 1655. In the pages of The Studio it
It is said that old age has found weak hands at the may sound like a recantation of its often declared
unwonted task. Certainly one grave divine to-day, purpose, to extol this sampler for its lack of
and one learned doctor devote their thinking time originality. No doubt every stitch was copied
to not dissimilar pursuits. But exceptions of this literally from older work, designs that were possibly
sort have no effect on the broad statement, that brought over originally by the Crusaders. Yet
a sampler is essentially a feminine enterprise ; with every recognition of the artists whose graceful
when the knight was winning his spurs his future invention has often been eulogised herein, there is
queen of beauty was grappling with less deadly another aspect of decoration which is not unworthy
59
But the sampler is not only a useful educational steel, and facing the ordeal of elaborate stitchings.
adjunct it is an idyll like Cranfurd as Mrs. The sampler was the little-go of polite education,
Gaskell painted it, one not even confined to the the Newnham and Girton for sweet girl-graduates
domain of our great grandmother. For Elaine of the past. Not only this, it was the diploma of
had hardly " fashioned for merit. Past mastery in jam-
Lancelot's shield a case of making, the compounding of
silk and braided thereupon all • : -.~f^Tff^W^MW^Qi pot-pourri, and the like, left
the devices blazoned on the but transitory results, legends
shield, and added of her wit a which later generations were
border fantasy of branch and S i. - - . - ■ i - Mg\ apt to deem pious, but exag-
flower," unless she had pre- ^B?* * V^i}:^ gerated; but the sampler,
viously achieved a sampler. '- 4' :«- framed and glazed, kept the
Probably no relic of forgot- | '4. ,.1"" j |. V-A-^-i domestic virtues of its owner
ten maids and mothers has so ■ r , r-M before the eyes of her descen-
personal an interest as the J^r ~L -^J \^ |~ -/. . :J dants, as her marble epitaph re-
sampler, with its maiden name ' * ^ . • _ -f corded her more noble virtues
in full, its pious verse, or its in the village church. Indeed,
folk-rhyme. It is a biography s*g . ., ^ ~# K, in certain Dutch samples the
in little, a microcosm of a - ^\ canvas was pre-arranged to
child's eternity, a lasting record pf ' -"''^ ^ \ hold the samplers of many
of patient precision, of careless ._ r-_.'- --- -- ' ^ .-5; generations, each daughter in
drudgery, or of sheer clumsi- "^TS-,'+^'sturn adding her quota to the
ness, whichever be the charac- ' "1'. , ~ y 7 > roll of honour of the family,
ter unwillingly betrayed by its llf^S;'" To-day samplers are not
stitches. .Q-^ £<p<S§ likely to be restored to their
There are few families that *\\.' ' '"^^^i^77''' '-']• ^ past position socially. Proba-
did not possess until lately, ^| j CH^^^^fj j ~ k ^ly, snould they be revived,
among their treasured trifles, __^*&C? -i^,. * sewing-machines will be called
a sampler or two, often merely '■ into play, and the labour of
homely things of alphabets and I I " . " . " " months distanced by the labour
numerals, with the simplest _ of hours. Then, too, we shall
cross-stitching by way of \~ ' be conscious that the design is
border. But these, charming ^ Vv:^:^-~'~~T ~~:.' reckoned as a most important
as they are, do not concern ^-V' 'J", \ £.*, * * xj££.'; factor, that so-called originality
us here. Nor is any plea for o^"^- is deemed the highest virtue,
conscious art put forward on %0S€??' ' • ' Ms'^^- :/- and that orderly following of
the sampler's behalf; it is j$C^Zi )^§§8^ lJj/^^^^nT^ precedent is looked upon as
for its loyal obedience to ^^^'U^C/i&j''w^''^--"J an ignoble shift to deaden
precedent, and its delight in ^^^^^^^/^^^^c^'- one's own personality. For
repeating devices approved by Np^" to-day most people are far less
centuries that the old sampler f^^^'p^J"^^;>^^3^0• eager to make their work art
belongs to the outer courts of ^%^cJ^^^^^-S^J^^%<5^ than to prove themselves to be
art. ' _ _ fo( ^T^.y I If ^ artists'
One can think of nothing V. I *> * To pass from the abstract
to-day more typically feminine to the individual, we may
than this object. There are _-- —— ~:■-i . / .....----- notice first a sampler which is
legends of sickly lads and r ----- ..- '} - - __ dated 1655, and is perhaps the
exiled sailors disporting them- f*"* V" •• .„:.;... most beautiful of all the de-
selves in its manufacture ; but signs illustated here, and one
we doubt if many a sampler— the sampler of joanna warren that has few rivals in Mr.
possibly not a single specimen 1655 Tuer's collection or elsewhere.
—survives with a male name It is signed Joanna Warren,
proudly embroidered across its surface. and dated 1655. In the pages of The Studio it
It is said that old age has found weak hands at the may sound like a recantation of its often declared
unwonted task. Certainly one grave divine to-day, purpose, to extol this sampler for its lack of
and one learned doctor devote their thinking time originality. No doubt every stitch was copied
to not dissimilar pursuits. But exceptions of this literally from older work, designs that were possibly
sort have no effect on the broad statement, that brought over originally by the Crusaders. Yet
a sampler is essentially a feminine enterprise ; with every recognition of the artists whose graceful
when the knight was winning his spurs his future invention has often been eulogised herein, there is
queen of beauty was grappling with less deadly another aspect of decoration which is not unworthy
59