“Oh Mighty God that knows how inclinations lead
Keep mine from straying lest my Heart should bleed.
Grant that I honour and succour my parents dear
Lest I should offend him who can be most severe.
I implore ore me you’d have a watchful eye
That I may share with you those blessings on high.
And if I should by a young youth be Tempted,
Grant I his schemes defy and all He has invented.”
Elizabeth Bock, 1764.
Samplers were so seldom worked by grown-up folk that one can hardly believe that the following verse records an actual catastrophe to the peace of mind of Eleanor Knot:—
ON DISINGENUITY
“With soothing wiles he won my easy heart
He sigh’d and vow’d, but oh he feigned the smart;
Sure of all friends the blackest we can find
Are those ingrates who stab our peace of mind.”
A not uncommon and much more agreeable verse sets forth the duties of man towards woman in so far as matrimony is concerned:—
“Adam alone in Paradise did grieve
And thought Eden a desert without Eve,
Until God pitying his lonesome state
Crown’d all his wishes with a lovely mate.
Then why should men think mean, or slight her,
That could not live in Paradise without her.”
Samplers bearing the foregoing verse are usually decorated with a picture of our first parents and the Tree of Knowledge, supported by a demon and angel.
The parent or teacher sometimes spoke through the sampler, as thus, in Lucia York’s, dated 1725:—
“Oh child most dear
Incline thy ear
And hearken to God’s voice.”
Or again:—
“Return the kindness that you do receive
As far as your ability gives leave.”
Mary Lounds.