The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-11-26
sIAmv AND HER LAMB.
who Mary Was, and Ihe Au.
thor OF the Poem.

who Mary Was, and the Au-
thor OF the Poem.
VIM. Is. Sawyer writes in the
Springfield (MAss.) Republican au
interesting personal history of the
poem, ''The Lamb at School," SO ia.
miliAr TO all. The lines,
"Mary had little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow"
have been repeated millions oil
times and there ls not q child in all
the country who has not heard
them. The poem has been parod
led, plraphrased aud translated in
to the dead languages. And yet,
scarce any one knows who is its
author or whether 1t is fictitious or
founded IN fact. Ii is, perhaps, in
the ruin OF the story that the Sc
cret OF its popularity lies. For il is
the true account OF an Incident that
appeued sky one years ago, not
nifty miles from The Cradle OF LIB
cry. Aud MARY" delightful old
lady of three score and ten, still
lives aud cheri-hes the memory OF
the event. The writer, on q recent
visit, craved from her own lips the
true story of the affair, and repro
duces il as nearly as possible:
sit was when l was nine years
DID," she said, land we lived upon
the farm. used to go out to the
barn every morning with father, to
see the cows and sheep. They all
knew me, and the cows, old Broad
and Shori-hOrn and Brindle, would
low a good morning when | came
to their stables. One cold day, we
found that during the night twin
lambs had been born. You know
that sheep will often disown one of
the twins, and this morning one
poor little lamb WAS pushed out of
the pen int the yard. Il was al
most starved and almost frozen, and
father told me l might have it if i
could make it live. So took it in
to the house, wrapped it i'll a blank
ct and fed it peppermint and milk
all day. When night came l could
not bear to leave it for fear it would
die, SO mother made up little bed
on the settle aud l nursed the poor
thing all night, feeding it with a
spoon, and by morning it could
stand. After this we brought il up
by hand until it grew to love me
very much, aud would stay with me
wherever L went unless it was tied.
l used before going to school in the
merning to see that the lamb was
all right and securely fastened for
the day. Well, one morning, when
my brother Nat and l were ready,
the lamb could not be found, and,
supposing that it had gone out to
pasture with the cows, we. started
on. l used to be a great singer, and
the lamb would follow the sound of
my voice. This morning, after we
had gone some distance, I began to
sing, and the lamb, hearing me, fol-
lowed and overlook US before we
got to the school-house. AS it hap
pened, we were early, so l went ia
quietly, took the lamb into my seat
where 1t went to sleep, and l COW
cred it up with my shawl. When
the teacher cane and the rest of tho
scholars, they did not notice any
thing amiss and all was quiet until
my spelling was called. had
hardly taken nv place before the
pattering of feet was heard coming
down tho aisle, and the lamb stood
beside me ready fer it's work. OF
course the children all laughed and
the the teacher laughed too, aud the
poor creature had to be turned out
of doors but it kept coming back
and at last had to be tied in the
woodshed Till night. Now that
day, there WAS q young man in
school, John Roulston by name,
who was on a visit to one of the
boys aud came in as a spectator.
He was a Boston boy and the son of
the r:ding-schOol master and was
fitting for Harvard college. He
was very much pleased over what
he saw in our school, aud, few
days after, he gave us the first three
verses OF the Sung. How or when
il got into print dOO't know"
Thus she ran on, telling of the
care she bestowed on her pet until
it grew to be sheep and she would
curl it's wool over a stick and it
bore lambs until there was a flock
OF five all her own ; and finally how
IL was killed by an angry COW.
Then she brought out pair of her
little girPs stockings, Knitted Of the
yarn spun from the lambs wool,
the heels of which had been raVeled
out and given away piecemeal as
mementoes. John ROulston died
before entering college. What the
world lost in him who woYe into
verse that immortaliZed them both
The story of Mary and the lamb, no
one may say.