Collections record Beta
Collection Record Detail
Object Name
Sampler
Object Number
2014-29-1
Description
Sampler worked in silk thread on linen. Sampler features upper and lower case alphabet in green at top with a verse in brown stitched in center reading, "Lovely girl too soon you'll find/ Your happiest days are left behind/ To grief and sorrow we are born/ Each rose we see conceals a thorn." Sampler is signed in brown, "Mary A. Merriman/ Oct 10/ 1835/ Litchfield" at bottom. A green, cream, and brown floral vine border sampler.
Provenance
The maker, Mary A. Merriman was the daughter of Litchfield, Connecticut silversmith and watchmaker Reuben Merriman.
Comment
The poem featured on the sampler can be found in a work entitled "Mentoria; Or the Young Lady's Friend" by Susanna Rowson. Rowson was a novelist, stage actress, playwright, poet, and later an educator. The work, published around 1794, begins with a selection of verses "addressed to a young lady on leaving school," which contain advice about friendship, parents, love, husbands, and death.
Category
Maker
Date Made
1835
Dimensions
Height 17"; Width 16.5"
Social Tags (experimental)
