The Sampler Sleuth: Writing Without Ink, Pen or Quill
An exclusive series about stitching history
There are many ways of viewing antique samplers! As an art form, they are a repository of material culture. They can be categorized by age—the era in which they were made, or by country of origin—American, British, Mexican. Of course, within each country or region of the globe, there are many local differences and subcategories.
Then there is classification by teacher or school. Sometimes the name of the instructor or learning institute is stitched in the sampler; other times, design elements can be attributed to a specific school.
Samplers also can be viewed according to subject matter— nautical, pastoral, religious, family record, etc. Another way of identifying samplers is by type. There are band samplers (usually long and narrow with dividing bands), spot motif samplers (random motifs located throughout the sampler), and alphabet samplers (dominated by one or more alphabets, which may be uppercase and/or lowercase) to name a few.
Then there are color categories: polychrome or monochrome—the latter often stitched in red threads.
Types of samplers can also be broken down by stitches or techniques employed: cross stitch, specialty stitch, darning stitch or a combination thereof. They can be grouped as formal compositions or more casual folk art—both a tie to the past as well as inspiration to today’s stitcher.
But a simple 14-word sentence stitched by Harriet Ann Hughson in 1843 begs us to view samplers in a different way. She recorded these words in cross stitch: “Art has taught my willing fingers skill to write without paper, ink or quill.” Also stitched by other sampler makers, this sentence captures the essence of needlework. Could they have known the prophetic and powerful nature of their words? Is it possible that they comprehended the significance of each letter they formed with a series of simple cross stitches?
These words are meaningful in a variety of ways. On one level, they speak to the very nature of art. Most art forms convey their message without words. Whether a sampler void of words, an oil painting or a sculpture, the art form speaks for itself. The rich colors, the use of angles, the massive presence, the subtle tones or diminutive brush strokes— each characteristic delivers a specific message that does not require words.
What I believe is more poignant is the literal meaning of the stitched words. In an undated and likely earlier sampler, 8-year-old Sarah Atkins stitched a similar sentence as part of an elegant needlework composition in which she substituted “pen, ink or quill” in place of “paper, ink or quill.” According to the book Nineteenth-Century Women Learn to Write, about half as many women as men could read and write at the beginning of the 19th century. “But by the end of that century, the gap had essentially closed.”
Because sampler making was part of many girls’ education and because much of that education was religious in nature, it comes as no surprise that many of the verses stitched on early samplers were of a religious nature. In 1785, Catharine Ingram stitched a rhyming list of the Ten Commandments: Have thou no other God but me Unto no idol bend thy knee Take not the name of God in vain Do not the Sabbath Day prophane Honour thy Father and mother too And see that thou no murder do From vile adultery keep thee clean And steal not tho they state be mean Bear no false witness shun that Blot What is they neighbours covet not Regardless of the sentences or verses stitched, needleworkers through the centuries have indeed made their words last “without paper, ink or quill.” Their legacy in stitches lives on for us to enjoy: “Long may I live happy; may I be blessed with content and from misfortune flee.”