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#0394
The Sampler
to set her own praises for her
• WjM...... ,......... - .......__,....... child to perpetuate seems
QWmopqTStJLJV^V'^y2^/2.:4. tiff f2ft hardly conceivable to us.
teg^2^>rf2^iS The prig as child still survives
m 'w'^;w'4% 'w"~" *t " j in goody-goody literature ; but
• A one hopes the-supernal prig
j*V>, J[ O —the prig as parent, is for
Vr' <' Tl -^4 ever obsolete. Mrs. Bar-
'?u5-' "<^Tll^<cS^ff^!Tj ( } - bauld, nay, even the admir-
■ff^yi|j^rH^{j , able Maria Edgewortb, and
Sa^feI j»-"i t [S£EE3 j 1 A /'j the rest, were never satisfied
i'i'l.'f" ijl?-'rnB- i^py: tv' witn depicting parents who
K|l=£z4li:v: MU:'^ ^t j- did their duty none too
L ^^li^^i^y^^^^^"': ' silently; their ideal — a
BMBHwiPHPKȣǣ-fc Roman mother, who ranked
( / justice (as she imagined it)
Vital SP9ly1< of heStV X\\y ihmt JPS the highest good-is no doubt
_.j i t i r. honourable. But what mother
SWt Oh (WK this mortal f TW,e O worthy the nanie ever required
Tr<£mblmeh0pmg jmg Tmv fiymg \ an official recognition of her
C)h the pat'n the bliss Of Aying .« ■•' care? One mother did, as
Cease fond HatJJTS Sea** thy sritV ^/Vl this sampler bears witness, but
• I , i i» - •* r \f perhaps it would be unjust to
And let me b ngUISh JfitO life believe it was « the parent »
(7 j herself who set the words.
Quite possibly a stern maiden
aunt might have been the
offender. Somehow the
sampler provokes one by its
self-conscious rectitude. Its
little trees are delightful and
XlS£ f Elizabeth Stcicl-SV-ellc) ^jPfc, *jS of fine ancestry; Its house
/) V;^».^^ ^ is not wholly unworthy of
\y ,v. Queen's Gate ; its one pea-
vJ^Hv^J>''"vJ^<^/>->v^ V^V^O^JPv*^ i hausting an effort to bear
■ - ;•--------- •. • L ' *** repetition. It is a really
well-designed, well selected
the sampler of Elizabeth stockwell iSi2 sampler, with a self-evident
sense of its own importance.
But one fears its making was
evidently strong symmetrical tendencies. For not fraught with tears and weariness. It seems hardly
merely is her delightfully impossible facade of doors possible that its artful pretence to be historic can
and windows more unpractical than those of a doll's be really a devout tribute of old age ; yet it may
house, but the smoke of its two chimneys defies all have been worked by an old lady for her grand-
natural law in order to preserve the balance of the child, and if so, all the theories advanced fall to
elevation. Not even the particularly inapt quotation the ground, and one hates it no more.
—" Pope's Ode," as its pet name runs—can arouse "Ann Buss worked this ninth year of her age,"
one to praise this piece of needlework for its sesthe- runs the legend (page 7 1), and elsewhere " Althorpe
tic qualities. The border indeed is good, but Eliza- 1841 " fixes the date. But excepting the house, the
beth was as unable to turn a corner gracefully as motives are all based on precedent, and show a
she would have been had you set her on a bicycle, variety of delightfully appropriate patterns common
In fact, here is a sampler shorn of all charm, to the whole period covered by samplers. But in
except the naivety of eighty-five years ago, which this as in others, one notices how secondary a part
it retains undesignedly. the mere alphabet plays. Before studying the
The sampler with the verse which begins "When samplers in a collection, one had formed the idea
I was young and in my prime " (page 69) reveals a that its chief, if not its only purpose, was to
secret forgotten by young people to-day. They do provide a series of alphabets and numerals for
not realise that the parents of a few generations ago reference in marking household linen, before the
inculcated a formal vassalage from their children, days of unbleachable inks and woven name tapes.
The curious attitude which could induce a mother But this sampler, like at least half of those illus-
70
to set her own praises for her
• WjM...... ,......... - .......__,....... child to perpetuate seems
QWmopqTStJLJV^V'^y2^/2.:4. tiff f2ft hardly conceivable to us.
teg^2^>rf2^iS The prig as child still survives
m 'w'^;w'4% 'w"~" *t " j in goody-goody literature ; but
• A one hopes the-supernal prig
j*V>, J[ O —the prig as parent, is for
Vr' <' Tl -^4 ever obsolete. Mrs. Bar-
'?u5-' "<^Tll^<cS^ff^!Tj ( } - bauld, nay, even the admir-
■ff^yi|j^rH^{j , able Maria Edgewortb, and
Sa^feI j»-"i t [S£EE3 j 1 A /'j the rest, were never satisfied
i'i'l.'f" ijl?-'rnB- i^py: tv' witn depicting parents who
K|l=£z4li:v: MU:'^ ^t j- did their duty none too
L ^^li^^i^y^^^^^"': ' silently; their ideal — a
BMBHwiPHPKȣǣ-fc Roman mother, who ranked
( / justice (as she imagined it)
Vital SP9ly1< of heStV X\\y ihmt JPS the highest good-is no doubt
_.j i t i r. honourable. But what mother
SWt Oh (WK this mortal f TW,e O worthy the nanie ever required
Tr<£mblmeh0pmg jmg Tmv fiymg \ an official recognition of her
C)h the pat'n the bliss Of Aying .« ■•' care? One mother did, as
Cease fond HatJJTS Sea** thy sritV ^/Vl this sampler bears witness, but
• I , i i» - •* r \f perhaps it would be unjust to
And let me b ngUISh JfitO life believe it was « the parent »
(7 j herself who set the words.
Quite possibly a stern maiden
aunt might have been the
offender. Somehow the
sampler provokes one by its
self-conscious rectitude. Its
little trees are delightful and
XlS£ f Elizabeth Stcicl-SV-ellc) ^jPfc, *jS of fine ancestry; Its house
/) V;^».^^ ^ is not wholly unworthy of
\y ,v. Queen's Gate ; its one pea-
vJ^Hv^J>''"vJ^<^/>->v^ V^V^O^JPv*^ i hausting an effort to bear
■ - ;•--------- •. • L ' *** repetition. It is a really
well-designed, well selected
the sampler of Elizabeth stockwell iSi2 sampler, with a self-evident
sense of its own importance.
But one fears its making was
evidently strong symmetrical tendencies. For not fraught with tears and weariness. It seems hardly
merely is her delightfully impossible facade of doors possible that its artful pretence to be historic can
and windows more unpractical than those of a doll's be really a devout tribute of old age ; yet it may
house, but the smoke of its two chimneys defies all have been worked by an old lady for her grand-
natural law in order to preserve the balance of the child, and if so, all the theories advanced fall to
elevation. Not even the particularly inapt quotation the ground, and one hates it no more.
—" Pope's Ode," as its pet name runs—can arouse "Ann Buss worked this ninth year of her age,"
one to praise this piece of needlework for its sesthe- runs the legend (page 7 1), and elsewhere " Althorpe
tic qualities. The border indeed is good, but Eliza- 1841 " fixes the date. But excepting the house, the
beth was as unable to turn a corner gracefully as motives are all based on precedent, and show a
she would have been had you set her on a bicycle, variety of delightfully appropriate patterns common
In fact, here is a sampler shorn of all charm, to the whole period covered by samplers. But in
except the naivety of eighty-five years ago, which this as in others, one notices how secondary a part
it retains undesignedly. the mere alphabet plays. Before studying the
The sampler with the verse which begins "When samplers in a collection, one had formed the idea
I was young and in my prime " (page 69) reveals a that its chief, if not its only purpose, was to
secret forgotten by young people to-day. They do provide a series of alphabets and numerals for
not realise that the parents of a few generations ago reference in marking household linen, before the
inculcated a formal vassalage from their children, days of unbleachable inks and woven name tapes.
The curious attitude which could induce a mother But this sampler, like at least half of those illus-
70