ckward imitation; and, in
fact, ancient English embroidery was a process of long and assiduous
labor, as well as of knowledge and inspiration. Our hurried modern
conditions would not encourage the repetition of the hand-breadth
pictures in embroidery of the earliest specimens, where countless
numbers of stitches were lavished upon a single production. The
embroidered picture of The Garden of Eden described in chapter four is a
specimen of the minute representation. These specimens are, to the art
of needlework, what the Dutch school of painting is to the great mural
canvases of the present day.

The development of the nineteenth century in America was only at first
an exact reflection of English methods. The first thing which marked the
influence of national character and taste was, that English models and
designs almost immediately disappeared, only a few such, consisting of
those which had been given to the art by masters of design like Morris
and Marcus Ward, were retained, and American needlewomen boldly took to
the representation of vivid and graceful groups of natural flowers,
following the lead of Moravian practice and of flower painting, rather
than that of decorative design.

As a natural result, crewels were soon discarded in favor of silks, and
natural extravagance, or national influence, led to the use of costly
materials instead of the linens of English choice and preference. So the
old flower embroidery of Bethlehem had a second birth. American girl
art-students soon found their opportunity in the creation of applied
design, and before embroidery had ceased to be a matter of
representation of flowers in colored silks, the flowers grew into
restrained and appropriate borders, or proper and correct space
decoration, and the day of women designers for manufacturers had come.

The circulars of the first Society of Decorative Art were not only
comprehensive, but were ambitious. Its objects were set forth as
follows:

1. To encourage profitable industries among women who possess
artistic talent, and to furnish a standard of excellence and a
market for their work.

2. To accumulate and distribute information concerning the various
art industries which have been found remunerative in other
countries, and to form classes in Art Needlework.

3. To establish rooms for the exhibition and sale of Sculptures,
Paintings, Wood Carvings, Paintings upon Slate, Porcelain and