Jerusha's sampler template was discovered in the home of Sudbury resident Natalie J. Eaton. Her estate donated it to The Wayside Inn Foundation in 2020.

Samplers were often used as a tool for teaching letters and numbers to young girls in the 17th-19th centuries. At the age of four or five, a young girl would begin her first marking sampler to demonstrate her mastery of the basic skills needed to mark clothing, linens, and other household items. Older girls would advance to designing and creating pastoral samplers with "virtuous verses and quotes from good works, the Bible and scripture. These samplers took months to complete" (Hayes, 3).

Because of the age noted in the template and the verse within it, Jerusha's sampler would have been an example of an advanced pastoral design. The template is unusual because of its shape (similar to a headstone), which suggests elements of a mourning sampler. We do not possess the completed sampler. However, we are confident that if young Jerusha finished it, her family would have proudly hung it in the home, as this was the fashion at the time.

In addition to a stanza from "Alexander's Feast," the sampler includes the alphabet, upper and lower case, and details for embroidery throughout. An inscription at the bottom reads:

Revenge denotes weakness of Soul.

Sudbury September 8th, 1809 ________________ Jerusha Howe Aged 12 years