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"The use of sewing is exceeding old,

As in the sacred text it is enrold:

Our parents first in Paradise began."-JOHN TAYLOR.

"The rose was in rich bloom on Sharon's plain,
When a young mother, with her first-born, thence
Went up to Sion; for the boy was vow'd

Unto the Temple service. By the hand

She led him; and her silent soul the while,

Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye

Met her sweet serious glance, rejoic'd to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers,
To bring before her God."-HEMANS.

IN speaking of the origin of needlework it will be necessary to define accurately what we mean by the term "needlework;" or else, when we assert that Eve was the first sempstress, we may be taken to task by some critical antiquarian, because we may not be able precisely to prove that the frail and beautiful mother of mankind made use of a little weapon of polished steel, finely pointed at one end and bored at the other, and " warranted not to cut in the eye." Assuredly we do not mean to assert

that she did use such an instrument; most probably-we would almost venture to say most certainly -she did not. But then again the cynical critic would attack us :-" You say that Eve was the first professor of needlework, and yet you disclaim the use of a needle for her."

No, good sir, we do not. Like other profound investigators and original commentators, we do not annihilate one hypothesis ere we are prepared with another, "ready cut and dried," to rise, like any fabled phoenix, on the ashes of its predecessor. It is not long since we were edified by a conversation which we heard, or rather overheard, between two sexagenarians-both well versed in antiquarian lore, and neither of them deficient in antiquarian tenacity of opinion-respecting some theory which one of them wanted to establish about some aborigines. The concluding remark of the conversation-and we opined that it might as well have formed the commencement-was

"If you want to lay down facts, you must follow history; if you want to establish a system, it is quite easy to place the people where you like."

So, if I wished to "establish a system," I could easily make Eve work with a "superfine drill-eyed needle:" but this is not my object.

It seems most probable that Eve's first needle was a thorn:

"Before man's fall the rose was born,

St. Ambrose sayes, without the thorn;
But, for man's fault, then was the thorn,
Without the fragrant rosebud, born."

Why thorns should spring up at the precise mo

:

ment of the fall is difficult to account for in a world where everything has its use, except we suppose that they were meant for needles and general analogy leads us to this conclusion; for in almost all existing records of people in what we are pleased to call a "savage" state, we find that women make use of this primitive instrument, or a fish-bone. "Avant l'invention des aiguilles d'acier, on a dû se servir, à leur défaut, d'épines, ou d'arêtes de poissons, ou d'os d'animaux." And as Eve's first specimen of needlework was certainly completed before the sacrifice of any living thing, we may safely infer that the latter implements were not familiar to her. The Cimbrian inhabitants of Britain passed their time in weaving baskets, or in sewing together for garments the skins of animals taken in the chase, while they used as needles for uniting these simple habiliments small bones of fish or animals rudely sharpened at one end; and needles just of the same sort were used by the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, when the celebrated Captain Cook first visited them.

Proceed we to the material of the first needlework. "They sewed themselves fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

Thus the earliest historical record; and thus the most esteemed poetical commentator.

"Those leaves

They gather'd, broad as Amazonian targe,

And, with what skill they had, together sew'd,
To gird their waist."

It is supposed that the leaves alluded to here were

those of the banian-tree, of which the leaves, says Sir James Forbes, are large, soft, and of a lively green; the fruit a small bright scarlet fig. The Hindoos are peculiarly fond of this tree; they consider its long duration, its outstretching arms, and overshadowing beneficence, as emblems of the Deity, and almost pay it divine honours. The Brahmins, who thus "find a fane in every sacred grove," spend much of their time in religious solitude, under the shade of the banian-tree; they plant it near the dewals, or Hindoo temples; and in those villages where there is no structure for public worship, they place an image under one of these trees, and there perform morning and evening sacrifice. The size of some of these trees is stupendous. Sir James Forbes mentions one which has three hundred and fifty large trunks, the smaller ones exceeding three thousand; and another, whereunder the chief of the neighbourhood used to encamp in magnificent style; having a saloon, dining room, drawing-room, bedchambers, bath, kitchen, and every other accommodation, all in separate tents; yet did this noble tree cover the whole, together with his carriages, horses, camels, guards, and attendants; while its spreading branches afforded shady spots for the tents of his friends, with their servants and cattle. And in the march of an army it has been known to shelter seven thousand men.

Such is the banian-tree, the pride of Hindûstan: which Milton refers to as the one which served "our general mother" for her first essay in the art of needlework.

"Both together went

Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose
The fig-tree; not that tree for fruit renown'd,
But such as at this day, to Indians known,
In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms,
Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade

High overarch'd, and echoing walks between :
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
At loopholes cut through thickest shade: Those leaves
They gather'd, broad as Amazonian targe;

And, with what skill they had, together sew'd,

To gird their waist."

Some of the most interesting incidents in Holy Writ turn on the occupation of needlework; slight sketches, nay, hardly so much, but mere touches which engage all the gentler, and purer, and holier emotions of our nature. For instance: the beloved child of the beautiful mother of Israel, for whom Jacob toiled fourteen years, which were but as one day for the love he bare her—this child, so eagerly coveted by his mother, so devotedly loved by his father, and who was destined hereafter to wield the destinies of such a mighty empire-had a token, a peculiar token, bestowed on him of his father's overwhelming love and affection. And what was it? "A coat of many colours;" probably including some not in general use, and obtained by an elaborate process. Entering himself into the minutiæ of a concern, which, however insignificant in itself, was valuable in his eyes as giving pleasure to his boy, the fond father selects pieces of various-coloured cloth, and sets female hands, the most expert of his household, to join them together in the form of a

coat.

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