St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-10-15
Dot Leetle Lamb.

THE 'TEUE STORY" OF MARYS NoI'NG
SHEEP AND HOW HE FOLLOWED
HER TO SCHOOL AND HOW HE WAS
EXPELLED.
There are floating about in the great
ocean of literature stray chips of song
or story. which from their wit or Wis
dom. or some umarcountahlc reason,
become popularizcd and cherished more
carefully than whole, mINicS OF world
renowned authors. Their parentnge
unknown. they come as literary found
IngS to our doors, and. once admitted,
command their own place III our at1,,'-
tions. Among such i> the poem.
"MarN had Il little lamb." There i>
hardly Il child in the broad land who
has not become familiar with the
Verses not II college student but has
SUM them to II dozen different tunes.
1t has been par"dird. paraphraSrd and
translated into the dead languages.
| And vet scarce anyone knows who L.
the author or whether it is fictitious ur
founded on fact 1t is, perhaps, in the
truth of the story that the secret of its
popularity lies. For it is the true ac
count of al incident that happened
not sixty y-one years ago, not fifty miles
from the Cradle of Liberty. And
"MarN :" Il delightful old lady of three
score and ten, still lives and chcIiShcs
the memory OF the event. The writer.
on Il recent visit crlNcd from her own
| lips the true story of the affair. and
will reproduce il us nearly aS possible.
MARY TELLS HER TALE TNADORNED.
''lt was when | WAS nine Years old.
she said. and We lived on Il farm.
used to go out to the barn every morn
| ing with father to see the COWS and the
sheep. They all knew me, and the
cows, old Broad and Sholt-hoI and
Brndle would low Il 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
Wins, and this morning one poor lamb
WAS pushed ont of the pen into the
yard. 1t waS almost starved and al
most frozen. and father told me might
| nave it if could make il live. so !
took 1t INTO the house. Wrapped it in Il
blanket and fed it on peppermint and
milk all day. When night came |
could not hraI to leave il for fear it
! Npul'l ul'. 81 HIbllltl me up al
little hcd on the settle and nuISrd the
poor thing all night. feeding it with
spoon, and 10y morning it could stand.
After tins We brought it up 10y hand
until it grew to love me very much.
and would stay with me wherever |
went unless ii WAS tied. | used before
going to school in the morning. To see
that the lamb WAS all right and secure
lN fastened for the day. Well. one
morning when my brother Nat and
were all ready, the lamb could not he
found, and, surprising that it had gone
ont To pasture with the COWS. we start
c, on. USED TO he Il great singer.
and the lamb would often follow
the sound of my voice. So this
morning. after we had gone some dis
tancc, | began To sing. and the lamb.
hearing me. followed on and overlook
us before We got To the School-houSe.
As il happened. we We're early. 50
went in very quietly. took the lamb in
To my seat. where it went to sleep. and
| covered it up with my shawl. When
the teacher came and the rest of the
scholars. they did not notice any thing
amiS>. and all WAS quiet till the spell
il = class WAS called. had hardly TAX
em my place before the patting of little
feet was heard comiuu down the aisle
and the Lamb stood beside me ready tol
its word. OF course the children all
laughed. and the teacher laughed. too.
and th, mon. ,rrotIu, had tn he turucd
out of doors. But it kept coming back
and at last had to bc h,. tied in the.
w"od>hcd till night. Now. that day.
There WA, 4 >ouur man in school. John
RouIstou hy name. who WIS on = visit
to ON, of the BOYS. and came as = sncc-
tator. He was Il Boston boy and son
of the riding school master. and vas
fttiu, for IIarv;rd Collr~c. I, WIS
very much ulcascd over what he SIM
in nu, s,hnnI and =, few, d.,,S ,ft,, ,,,v.
us tb,. first rIr,. verse. nf thr suu,
How ur when il c,t INFO rriut ,IunI
kuov
nus she ran on telling "i the care
Sl' ">'"We" on hri pet 'hlli II ",rN
/" h' Il sIcel'' ana >lr N"hlu cum ITS
h.,. ,,,.u and fu,lI, Lnv. !, Y.,. | iIi.J
hv an ANNA. ,,,y 'Th.u .h. I,,,u,,bt
ant min, ,f h., E,tI,.-ui,I .t,,l.i,I,rs
knitted of YARN snnn f,nm ,h,. I,mI., ,
v,,J tL,. heels ,f vbi,.L L,d L,.,, ,.,,-
,Ied out and "iycu AWAY riecrmcoI ,s
m.m.ut,s NJ ,u, can ,Iuuht th,t >b,.
vbos,. yuutb wus rendered tomous h,
I,v, for .,u uut;,rtuu,t, animal has liy-
.d g, If. nf h.u,Ii,.,,,,, and ,.L,,it,
With , heart nvcrtIoviur with Iny,
t,v,rd ,U G,d'> c,.,turrS sL. has in
deed lived to c,r, fnr th, uc.J, and
destitute. and be = mother to th.