ABSTRACT
The refinement of society is dependent on the perfection to which needle-work is advanced, and the estimation in which it is held; and, consequently, that woman, to whom this branch of ingenious industry is almost entirely conceded, wields over the destiny of nations a weapon more powerful than the sword of the conqueror. Such a dissertation is foreign from my purpose; however, my readers will easily, without any prompting, refer the improvements of manners to different eras in the art of sewing, from that of necessity to the needle-work of convenience, of elegance, of luxury; and then comes the crowning grace, when the work of fair fingers is made subservient to the luxury of doing good.
