The sampler has three lines of the alphabet separated by narrow crossbands. The prominent, central verse consists of the last twelve (of sixteen) lines of the poem, “To a Child of Five Years old”, by the English physician and poet, Nathaniel Cotton (ca 1705-1788). The sampler maker substituted “Mary” for the name “Polly” in Cotton’s original work. The sampler maker’s verse reads:
Mark my Mary how the roses
Emulate thy Damask cheek
How the bud its sweets discloses
Buds thy opening bloom bespeak
Lillies are by plain direction
Emblems of a double kind
Emblems of thy fair complexion
Emblems of thy fairer mind
But dear girl both flowers and beauty
Blossom fade and die away
Then pursue good sense and duty
Evergreens which ne'er decay

Below is a scene consisting of a central house with surrounding flower, birds, bushes, and a tree.
The signature reads:
Mary. Virginia. Lafon Nov. 26th

According to the Kentucky Historical Society, Mary Virginia Lafon made the sampler while attending the Woodford Female Academy in Versailles in 1821. From the Genealogies of Kentucky Families from The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol.II, Mary Virginia Lafon’s youngest daughter, Miss Sally Jackson (1836-1921), wrote in the “History of the Upshaws, Lafons, Jacksons and Youngs for the “Society of Colonial Daughters” (pp 542-544 of 870):

“My mother, Mary Lafon, was a pupil of Kean O'Hara, who is regarded as one of the most distinguished educators of his time; he came to Woodford county shortly after the birth of his celebrated son, Theodore, in Danville, Kentucky, 11th of February 1820.

As a curio, I append following list of studies proposed to Captain Lafon and lady for their daughter, Mary Lafon:

Mr. O'Hara proposes for the course of instruction for Miss Mary Lafon, with the approbation of Captain Lafon and lady, the following:
“1. A hasty recital and review of geography, ancient and modern, illustrated with maps and globes, the latter to be furnished by O'Hara, as well as sheet maps towards the end of the course.
“2. English grammar; review, exercise in verbs, and parsing.
“3. History in the following order: Grecian, Roman, British, and American.
“4. French, for which will be immediately required a grammar, dictionary and Perrin's Fables.
“5. Arithmetic; required, Pike’s Arithmetic, slate and pencils.
“6. Paper, ink, etc.

“Respectfully,
Kean O'Hara, 17th August.”

The Lafons who came to American were refugees from France during the Huguenot persecution. The founders of the family settled in South Carolina and Virginia. Their descendants, including Richard Lafon II (1762-1822, married Anna Bondurant Maxey [1744-1862] on 11/11/1794, died in Jessamine County, Kentucky, buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Jefferson County, Kentucky), and his brother, Capt. Nicholas Lafon (the sampler maker Mary Virginia Sabon Lafon’s father) were brothers and removed to Jessamine and Woodford County, Kentucky in the late 1790s.

Mary Virginia Sabon LaFon was born on February 14, 1808, in Woodford County, Kentucky, when her father Capt. Nicholas LaFon (1762-1831) was forty-five years old, and her mother, Maria Upshaw (1772-1852)(m. 03/12/1801) was thirty-six. Interestingly both of the sampler maker’s parents were twins. Mary Virginia LaFon’s siblings included a daughter (1800-1809), John Upshaw, MD (1807-1853), Lucy Letitia (1808-?), a son (1811-1820), a daughter (1825-1830), Cordelia (?-?), James (?-1823), and Hannah Price (?).

Mary Virginia LaFon married Richard Gilbert Jackson (1801-1852) on November 7, 1825, in their hometown in Woodford County, Kentucky. They had three children including Maria (1826-1847), Virginia LaFon (1828-1909), and Sally (1836-1921).

Mary Virginia Sabon LaFon died on October 28, 1880, in South Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky at the age of seventy-two, and was buried in the Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Kentucky as was her husband and her daughter Maria Jackson Cotton.