Sampler (Alphabet or marking sampler)

Description

This is a linen alphabet or marking sampler worked with silk threads. In the 19th century, making a sampler was part of almost every young girl's schooling, including this example by Ann Jane Couper of White Clay Creek in New Castle County, Delaware in 1824. Ann Jane was eleven years old when she worked her sampler, which has characteristics similar to those done by other White Clay Creek girls. This sampler can be compared to that of her mother, Hannah McIntire, who was also eleven years old when she made hers. The deterioration in both the aesthetic and the technical quality of the embroidery with Ann Jane's sampler is not so much due to a decrease in skill as a change in the nature of women's education. The inscription on this sampler is as follows: "Unshaken as the sacred Hill / And fixed as mountains stand / Shall rest the soul that does Gods will / And leans upon his Hand. / Ann Jane Coupers work done in the 11th year / of her age. D.H.M's Seminary New Castle 1824".