Sampler

Periodca. 1834

MediumPlied silk thread on linen

DimensionsSight: 16.75 × 16.75 in. (42.5 × 42.5 cm)

InscribedPainted in orange on the back of the frame along the top edge is the Moreau collection number "108" within a circle.

SignedThis sampler contains four separate signatures, "mary h applegate new york," "Mary H. Applegate," "Mary H Apple " and "Mary Hunt / Applegate / New Jersy / anno Domini 18___."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineBequest of Mrs. Maude Applegate Smith Moreau, 1964

Object number1979.810.1

DescriptionA square sampler on natural gauzy linen, embroidered with plied silk thread in dark green, medium green, pale sage green, medium blue, pale blue, red, dull pink, pale pink, light brown, tan, and off white. The entire sampler is worked in cross stitch only. On the top half of the sampler are eight rows of alphabets. On the first row runs a half-inch upper case alphabet from A to Z, with four ampersands after the Z as spacers. A second half-inch upper case alphabet is worked on the second and third lines in double, from AA to ZZ, with three ampersands following as spacers. On the fourth line runs a set of half-inch lower case alphabet worked in double, from aa to tt. The alphabet continues on the fifth line, from uu to zz, an ampersand spacer, with the signature "mary h applegate new york" following. A large three-quarter upper case italic alphabet runs from A to S and T through Z. Immediately following is the second of four signatures, reading "MARY H APPLE." The final line contains two numeral runs, from 1 to 10 and from 1 to 9, separated in the center by a narrow decorative banding and with similar banding worked immediately below the number runs. The bottom half of the sampler contains four verse blocks, reading "In the soft scenes of youth / When cares are small and few / Ill [sic] show to others of my age / what busy hands can do," "And when my days are past / And I from time remove / O may I in thy bosom rest / The bosom of thy love," "May / The blue bird now begins to sing / The insect spreads his tinny [sic] wing / And children to [sic] are very gay / To welcome in delightful may," and "And all the goodly things that are / The earth the air and the ample sea / Are all a gathering round, / To welcome the [sic] thou lovely month of may." Between the first two verse blocks is the signature "Mary H. Applegate" above a rose swag. Below is a single large full-blown rose. Flanking the swag and rose are mirror image birds, possibly doves, perched atop flower-filled shallow baskets. Large floral sprays are worked to the left and right of the birds and baskets. Along the bottom edge of the sampler is a basket with exuberant floral sprays, flanked on either side by small stylized floral sprays and single birds, all resting atop a wide band of green lawn. In the extreme lower left corner is embroidered the signature "Mary Hunt / Applegate / New Jersy [sic] / Anno Domini 18___." In the extreme lower right corner is worked a floral spray. A narrow sawtooth border of contrasting pale green and off white runs along all four edges of the linen panel.
Curatorial RemarksMary Hunt Applegate was about ten years old when she worked her sampler. It is not known why Mary's sampler does not include the last two digits of the year in which she made it. It may be that she picked out a portion of the year and replaced it with a spacer line to hide her age. Within her linen panel are four separate signatures, four alphabets, verses from three different sources, and numerous floral elements. It is intriguing that for reasons unknown Mary included two different locations in the same sampler. "New york" follows her first signature line in one of the alphabet rows, while "New Jersy" appears in the lower left corner of the panel. Mary Applegate was born in Mercer County, New Jersey, but she may have attended school in New York. One theory is that she began her sampler in New York, but then attended a second school in New Jersey at which she finally completed her needlework. While many sampler makers, with the help of their instructresses, chose to include verses taken from a hymn or a particular poem, Mary Applegate used three separate sources for her four stanzas. The source for the upper left verse block is not known, but is listed in Ethel S. Bolton and Eva J. Coe's American Samplers (Boston: The Massachusetts Society of Colonial Dames of America, 1921), 276, no. 168. The verse worked in the upper right of the sampler was taken from the hymn "The Day is Past and Gone," written in 1792 by American Baptist minister John Leland (1754 - 1841). The third and fourth verses, entitled "May," appeared in The Girl's Own Book by Mrs. L. Maria Child (New York: Clark Austin & Co., 1833), 252. Many samplers contain small and charming spelling and spacing mistakes, pointing to the youth and humanity of their makers. In Mary's sampler, she had to float the "t" of "past" above the rest of the word, and "May" above the last line of her fourth verse block. Her spelling was also somewhat variable, with the word "tiny" appearing as "tinny."NotesMary Hunt Applegate was born in East Windsor, Mercer County, New Jersey, on 24 September 1824. She was a daughter of Abijah Applegate (1799 - 1885) and Sarah Taylor Hunt (1801 - 1885). A single woman, she made her home with her parents. Mary died on 14 March 1872 at the age of forty-seven. She was interred in the family plot at Cedar Hill Cemetery in nearby Hightstown. The 1870 census lists her as having "No Occupation."

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