he needlework comes quite within the
pale of ornamental stitchery.

This variety of domestic needlework, and one or two others which are
akin to it, survived in the northern and middle states in the form of
quilting until at least the middle of the nineteenth century, while in
the southern states, especially in the mountains of Kentucky and North
Carolina, it still survives in its original painstaking excellence.

Among the earlier examples of these quilts one occasionally finds one
which is really worthy of the careful preservation which it receives. I
remember one which impressed itself upon my memory because of the
humanity interwoven with it, as well as the skill of its making. It was
a construction of blocks, according to patchwork law, every alternate
block of the border having an applied rose cut from printed calico in
alternate colors of yellow, red, and blue. These roses were carefully
applied with buttonhole stitch, and the cotton ground underneath cut
away to give uniform thickness for quilting. The main body of the quilt
was unnoticeably good, being a collection of faintly colored patches of
correct construction. The quilting was a marvel--a large carefully drawn
design, evidently inspired by branching rose vines without flowers, only
the leafage and stems being used, and all these bending forms filled in
with a diamonded background of exquisite quilting. The palely colored
center was distinguished only by its needlework, leaving the rose border
to emphasize and frame it.

There was a bit of personal history attached to this quilt in the shape
of a small tag, which said:

"This quilt made by Delia Piper, for occupation after the death of an
only son. Bolivar, Southern Missouri, 1845."

The same kind friend who had introduced me to this quilt, finding me
appreciative of woman's efforts in fine stitchery, took me to call upon
other pieces which were equally worthy of admiration. One was a white
quilt of what was called "stuffed work," made by working two surfaces of
cloth together, the upper one of fine cambric, the lower one of coarse
homespun. Upon the upper one a large ornamental basket was drawn, filled
with flowers of many kinds, the drawing outlines being followed by a
back stitchery as regular and fine as if done by machine, looking, in
fact, like a string of beaded stitches, and yet it was accomplished by a
needle in the hand of a skillful but unprofessional sewer. The picture,
for it was no less,