While every country has sent specimens of clothing made by its children,
and each exhibits its own system of teaching sewing, none of these systems
seem so complete nor the finished garments so perfect as those of our own
country.

In foreign countries no particular attention seems to be paid to the
cutting, shaping, and ornamenting of garments. The little underclothes
from Switzerland and Germany, especially, were made of such coarse cloth,
of such a hideous pattern, and so utterly without ornament, that it is not
pleasant to think there are really people in the world contented to wear
such unsightly clothes.

In the American exhibit, every garment, for rich child or poor child, had
its little frill of lace, or its row of feather-stitching, which gave it a
finish that was very pretty.

The daintiest set of garments came from the Industrial School for Colored
and Indian Children, in Hampton, Va.

The most complete exhibit, which included plain sewing, dress-making,
hat-trimming, and fancy work of all kinds, was sent by the Pratt
Institute, in Brooklyn. The useful sewing from that school was above the
standard of excellence, and the art work fully equal to that of the New
York School of Applied Design.

A very interesting part of the exhibit of every American school was the
darning and patching. We hear a good deal about people not learning to sew
properly nowadays, since the sewing-machine has come into such common use,
but the patches and darns shown by the twelve-year-old pupils of our