Below her alphabets and above a colorful scene, Lucy Low worked a slight variation of the sixth verse of A Midnight Hymn by English theologian Thomas Ken (1637–1711). These lines do not apply to earthly marriage but to the acceptance of death and the joy of heaven with Christ as the bridegroom of the church. They also appear on the 1757 Boston samplers of Mary Simpkins and Prudence Clark and in Mary Gale’s work of 1787.

In 1776, Lucy was the youngest of three first cousins who worked similar scenes below different pious inscriptions. Obviously they were attending the same school in Danvers, or perhaps in Salem; the part of Salem known as Salem Village became the town of Danvers in 1752. These may be the earliest samplers within a group that features a rose tree flanked by stubby trees, and later pieces often have pineapple-like flowers in the corners of a surrounding floral vine border. Many talented women were teaching in Salem and adjacent towns during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Although the schoolmistress who introduced this form remains unknown, her typical motifs were favored until at least 1801.

Lucy was the daughter of Major Caleb Low (1739–1810) and Sarah Shillaber (1739–1815), of Danvers, and it was a seafaring family. Lucy married Captain John Frost (1758–1829) in 1781. In 1784, her father owned the 152-ton brigantine Lucy, which was perhaps named for her. It was commanded by her husband, who later became its owner. The Frosts had seven children, each of whom married and had issue except Stephen (1794–1808), who died in Havana. Three of their six sons became sea captains and four resided for most of their lives in Virginia. Their fourth child and their only daughter, Sarah Frost Winchester (1789–1875), outlived all her brothers.

Betty Ring, "Lucy Low Sampler," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 515-16.

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