86 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND 



than a pleasure. It was not abandoned to the poor, or made the 

 badge of servility. So sacred was useful employment held, that 

 the idle woman was deemed the abandoned woman ; and we 

 may venture to lay it down as a truth deeply implanted in our 

 nature, and exemplified in the history of our race, that the un- 

 employed hand hangs by the side of the corrupt heart. It is a 

 saying, as true as it is old, that " we need employment to keep 

 us out of mischief." 



The fact that the refinements of life, and sentiments of reli- 

 gion and morality, are intimately connected with the useful oc- 

 cupation of the mind and the hand, is one not to be overlooked 

 by those who would make female employment respected and 

 honorable. Ingenious invention strongly taxes the intellect; 

 and the cultivation of a refined taste in the useful arts, and a 

 fondness for all those beautiful imitations of nature which may 

 be wrought by the skilful exercise of the needle, stand among 

 the prime requisites in the formation of a virtuous character. 



Your Committee must not be regarded, in these remarks, as 

 regretting "the good old days of Adam and Eve,"' or as wish- 

 ing to reproduce, in this generation, the familiar and homely 

 employments of our New England great-grandmothers. We 

 have no wish to revive the ancient reign of the distaff and the 

 spindle, in the economy of the household. Happily, the modern 

 inventions and improvements in mechanism have superseded 

 the necessity of calling upon the ladies of the present day to 

 supply the demand for the coarser and heavier fabrics ; and we 

 would as soon wish to see, in our public conveyances, the rail- 

 road car exchanged for the stage-coach, as to see the machinery 

 of the factory replaced by the cumbrous loom and spinning- 

 wheel of the household. As strongly as we may advocate the 

 labor of the female hand, we can point out a thousand other 

 channels, in which to direct its activity. The fancy still teems 

 with innumerable conceptions, as yet unrealized; and the 

 achievements of the needle have, as yet, found no limit. 



The entry of articles, this year, is very small, compared with 

 other occasions of this kind, and embraces a less variety than 

 usual. The substantial, and more useful articles prevailed over 

 those merely ornamental. Many specimens exhibited evidence 



