Miss Hands reminds me that it was at my suggestion, as Editor of ‘The Treasury,’ that she undertook the writing of the articles which form the basis of this volume. My confidence in her fitness to write such papers was more than justified by the result. A mere man, indeed, cannot presume to offer an opinion of a book on Embroidery which will carry much weight; yet the letters received by me during the serial appearance of these papers showed unmistakably that they were supplying a real want. In their new and revised form they cannot fail to be yet more widely useful. Moreover, the beautiful work executed by Miss Hands for my own and other churches is ample proof that she is as skilled in the practice as in the theory of her art.

So with much willingness I contribute these few words of introduction. There must be many ladies to whom such a book as this—lucid, compact, and inexpensive—will be most welcome, enabling them to use their needles for the highest of purposes—the service of the Church and the beautifying of the Sanctuary. We all feel, I think, that such work, when fashioned by the hands of worshippers, has a worth and a significance, apart from its intrinsic value, which no ready-made article purchased from the ‘Church Furniture’ shop can possess. It is the concrete embodiment of love, self-denial, and reverence. It brings before our eyes an example of human talent consecrated to the highest ends. And it continues a tradition characteristic of the Christian Church throughout its history—one dating back, indeed, to those more ancient days when, in the language of the Book of Exodus, ‘All the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet and of fine linen,’ for use and adornment in the Tabernacle of God.

Anthony Deane.