k together in, and the track of the Kensington School
is broad and authoritative enough for such following. The example and
incitement of the various societies were the seed of much good and
progressive art in America. In saying this I do not by any means confine
the credit of the growth or development of needlework to this society
alone, for there have been other influences at work. What I mean to say
is this, that the other kindred societies, like the Woman's Exchange,
the Needlework Societies, the Household Art Societies, and the
Blue-and-White Industries started from this one root, and are as much
indebted to the original society as things must always be to the central
thought which inspired them. Compared with English work of the same
period, they were distinguished by a certain spontaneity of motive
and a luxuriance of effect, which has made these specimens more valuable
to present possessors, and will make them far more precious as
heirlooms. This sudden efflorescence of the art was, however, almost in
the hands of amateurs, except for the occasional effort by some of the
advanced contributors of the New York and Boston societies.

[Illustration: QUILTED COVERLET worked entirely by hand.

_Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum_]

[Illustration: DETAIL of above coverlet.

_Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum_]

The commercial development of embroidery in this country has been in the
direction of embroidery upon linen, and in this line each and every
society of decorative art has been a center of valuable teaching. At the
Columbian Exposition, to which all prominent societies contributed, the
perfection of design, color and method, the general level of excellence,
was on the highest possible plane. In its line nothing could be better,
and it was encouraging to see that it was _not_ amateur work, _not_ a
thing to be taken up and laid down according to moods and circumstances,
but an educated profession or occupation for women, the acquirement of a
knowledge which might develop indefinitely.

Of course the trend of the decorative needlework was almost entirely in
the direction of stitchery pure and simple, devoted to table linen and
luxurious household uses, and this grew to a point of absolute
perfection. Table-centers and doilies embroidered in colors on pure
white linen reached a point of beauty which was amazing. When I saw, at
the World's Columbian Exposition, the napery of the world, wrought by
all races of women, I was de