October, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



361 



OLLECTIXG old 



hobbies that suppli 

 satisfaction. The 

 true collector 

 finds great de- 

 light in "discov- 

 ering" things and samplers are 

 peculiarly the sort of treasures 

 that are invested with the possi- 

 bility of being discovered. Al- 

 though they sometimes bring ex- 

 traordinary prices at auction, one 

 is just as apt to come across at- 

 tractive old samplers in out-of- 

 the-way places and to be able to 

 acquire them for prices that are 

 quite within reach of the mod- 

 erate purse. 



The making of samplers may 

 be traced as far back as the sev- 

 enteenth century, although they 

 probably had an earlier origin. 

 Of course, early samplers are 

 rarer than ones of later date, al- 

 though those dated later than 

 1835 are not as commonly met 

 with as one would expect them 

 to be. I will be sure that the 



samplers is one of those 

 es an unending source of 



field over which the collector of samplers may roam is suf- 

 ficiently broad to be interesting. A large number of samplers 



were made during the eighteenth 

 and early nineteenth centuries 

 and many of these are extant, 

 tempting the enthusiastic col- 

 lector to make search for them. 

 Sentiment has done much to 

 preserve these specimens of 

 needlework so patiently wrought 

 by the tiny hands of the little 

 maids of generations and genera- 

 tions ago. One sees reflected in 

 the early samplers something of 

 the educational austerity of the 

 era in which they were produced, 

 for it could have been no cheer- 

 ful task for little seven-year-old 

 fingers to be stitching away at 

 bothersome alphabets when the 

 thought of play was in the mind. 

 Many old-time samplers have 

 suffered more or less from time's 

 vicissitudes, however, careful 

 restoration will work wonders 

 with them, with even the most 

 soiled and defaced examples, so 

 entury English sampler skilful have the menders of old 



An early French sampler showing a great number of stitches and lace inserts 



