d in this country by women of European race, and in their hands
made its first appearance even during the days of privation and nights
of fear which were their portion in this strange new world to which they
had come.

The seed of it was brought by that winged creature of destiny, the
_Mayflower_, hidden in the folds or decorating the borders of the
precious household linen which was a part of the gear of the first
Pilgrims. In its hollow interior there was room for bed dressings and
table napery, even when the high-posted bedsteads and tables which they
had adorned were abandoned, or exchanged for peace of mind and liberty
of action.

It may have declared itself in the very first years of settlement,
before they had encountered the savage antagonism of the aborigines, and
while they still had only the privations incident to pioneer life; or
it may have been after the long struggle for ascendancy and possession
was over, and they could settle down in hard-won homes. Upon neighboring
or contiguous farms there they gradually drew together the threads of
memory concerning former peaceful occupations, and wove them once more
into the warp of daily life. They could visit one another, exchanging
domestic experiences, or reminiscences of spiritual struggles of their
own or of fellow Pilgrims, and old-time hand occupations would be a
mutual lullaby and an exorcism of anxiety.

The real beginning of embroidery as a national art was probably at a
later period, for its previous practice would be but a continuation of
old-world occupations or diversions of life.

The devoted mothers of the American race, who sailed the seas in those
far-off days, might have brought some favorite "piece" of embroidery
among their most intimate belongings, wherewithal to while away the
hours of weary days upon the limitless breadths of ocean. There would be
intervals of calm between storms, and periods when even the merest shred
of a home-practiced art would be doubly and trebly valued, like a
piece of heavenly raiment to a naked and banished angel.

[Illustration: CREWEL DESIGN, drawn and colored, which dates back to
Colonial times.

_In the possession of the Dunham family of Cooperstown._]

The most natural effort of the woman standing in the midst of such new
and strenuous conditions as surrounded the Pilgrim mothers in America,
would be to reproduce something which had meant peace and tranquillity
in former days. We can imagine her, searc