eadily accessible to those who are interested in them is
exceedingly small. This is particularly true of those quilts which
possess artistic merit and historic interest, and a considerable
amount of inquiry is sometimes necessary in order to bring forth even
a single quilt of more than ordinary beauty. It is unfortunate for
this most useful and pleasant art that its masterpieces are so shy and
loath to display their charms, for it is mainly from the rivalry
induced by constant display that all arts secure their best stimulus.
However, some very remarkable achievements in quilting have been
brought to light from time to time, to the great benefit of this best
of household arts.

There is in existence to-day no complete collection of quilts readily
available to the public at large. No museum in this country or abroad
has a collection worthy of the name, the nearest approach to it being
in the great South Kensington Museum in London. While many
institutions possess one or more specimens, these have been preserved
more often on account of some historic association than because of
exceptional beauty or artistic merit. It is only in the rare instance
of a family collection, resulting from the slow accumulation by more
than one generation of quilt enthusiasts, that a quilt collection at
all worth while can be found. In such a case the owner is generally so
reticent concerning his treasures that the community as a whole is
never given the opportunity to profit by them.

In families where accumulations have reached the dignity in numbers
that will justify being called collections, the quilts belonging to
different branches of the family have been passed along from one
generation to another, until they have become the property of one
person. Among collections of this sort are found many rare and
beautiful quilts, as only the best and choicest of all that were made
have been preserved. There are also occasional large collections of
quilts that are the work of one industrious maker who has spent the
greater portion of her life piecing and quilting. The Kentucky
mountain woman who had "eighty-three, all different, and all her own
makin'," is a typical example of this class.

[Illustration: THE "WIND-BLOWN TULIP" DESIGN

Seems to bring a breath of springtime both in form and
colour. Even the border flowers seem to be waving and
nodding in the breeze]

The vastness of their numbers and the great extent of their e