Mary Had Little Lamb

Mary Had Little Lamb
And PaPa Al Has a Big Irish Setter

Okay. I get the gest of the poem Mary Had a Little Lamb. So what was the big deal? Apparently, it was a major issue. That short poem was published in 1830. It is allegedly a true story about a little girl who was nine. It should be noted Ti Ti, my granddaughter, was nine when we first met; more about that later in this article, but back to this part of the essay.

Mary Elizabeth Sawyer was her name. As the story goes, she lived on a farm located near Sterling, MA. In 1815, she and her father noticed a very sick newborn lamb in a sheep pen. In fact, the ewe ignored her newborn. Mary’s father did the same thing. However, Mary wouldn’t, and her father allowed her to care for the newborn. Mary had a magic veterinary touch, and the lamb recovered.

Mary wrote many decades later about caring for the little lamb. “In the morning, much to my girlish delight, it could stand; and from that time it improved rapidly. It soon learned to drink milk; and from the time it would walk about, it would follow me anywhere if I only called it.” As the story goes, the little lamb followed her everywhere, including school.

Off to school went Mary and her lamb

This postcard is Mary going to Redstone School with her lamb close behind. One day, Mary wrapped her little lamb in a blanket and put the lamb under her school desk. However, Mary had to go to the front of the class to recite the lesson for the day, which meant her lamb followed.

At this point of the story about Mary and her lamb, it begins to raise questions about who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb. After the excitement of a lamb in a classroom, a classmate, John Roulstone, gave Mary a poem he had written about the lamb the previous day.

Mary had a little lamb;
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out;
But still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear

Mary’s little lamb had three babies, but unfortunately, the family’s cow gored Mary’s lamb. When Roulstone went to Harvard, he died during his freshman year. The story about Mary and her little lamb becomes even murkier.

Although the story about Mary taking her lamb to school was true. However, there is no evidence that Roulstone wrote his three stanzas poem on a piece of paper and gave his poem to Mary the next day. The stories seem authentic, but there is no documentation of any of the stories.

What is true is that Mary brought her lamb to school. The teacher, Sarah Josepha Hale wrote a poem about the incident.

Mary’s Lamb Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow (or black as coal).
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
That was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.
And then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said ‘I’m not afraid,
You’ll keep me from all harm.’

‘What makes the lamb love Mary so?’
The eager children cry.
‘Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The teacher did reply.
‘And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’

Hale wanted to teach her class that animals should be cared for and loved. Hale was also concerned about making Thanksgiving a national holiday and wrote to President Lincoln about her concern.

After Ginger and I had our Thanksgiving dinner, we played Chuck-It. I told Ginger that we will teach Ti Ti to play Chuck-It her. But first, Ginger had to scare off the geese from her playground.

Then it was Chuck-It time.

If you are interested in this topic, click on the link The Story of Mary and Her Little Lamb.