Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-04-03
Mary's Little Lamb.
Boston Advertiser.

Boston Advertiser. fN ls-
Who would have believed that the
little pet lamb which followed Mary
everywhere would now be helping to
save the Old South Church? All chill
dren know the old song:
Mary had little lamb, 80
Its fleece was white snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.
And many of them know that there is
in Boston an old church, on Washing
ton street, at the corner of Milk. The
land upon which it stands is worth a
great sum of money, and, as the prop
erty was offered for sale, there was much
danger that the house would be torn
down to make room for block of stores.
The old church has been SO famous in
in the history Of Massachusetts that
there was a strong feeling against tear
ing it down, and to save it a number Of
women of wealth bought it, pledging
over 100000 For months they have
been hard at work in q great many
ways to secure money enough to pay
for it. For several weeks past "Aunt
Tabitha" has held a spinning bee in
church. Three or four old ladies, who
were famous spinners in their younger
days, when it was the custom to wear
homespun garments, have had their
.hatchels, and reels. and wheels, and
have spun for the people, A great
many have watched them attheir work
each afternoon. 10 add to the attrac-
tons of the exhibition, the old ladies
have been dressed in the styles which
were common when they were young,
and have worked in an d-time kitchen,
with it's open fireplace and glowing
logs. ss#.s.@. ..sl
Among the visitors one day was the
real Mary, who, when q little girl, had
the pet lamb for her own She was very
willing to tell the story; suppose we
listen with the rest. Little Mary's name
was Mary Sawyer, and she, lived in
Sterling. Mass. She is now Mrs. Tyler,
of Somerville, q vigorous lady over 20
years old. One morning she went out
to the barn and found two little lambs,
which had been born in the night. One
was SO weak and small that her father
said it was Of no use to try to raise it,
Mary's tender heart pitied the tiny crea-
ture, and she begged her father to let
her try to save it. He gave it to her
care promising that if it lived it should
be her lamb Mary took it into the
house, wrapped it up, laid in warm
place, and fed it carefully with milk.
All day she watched it, and all night
too. In the morning how glad she was
to hear her father say that the lamb
would live!
1t was no wonder that the pet lamb
loved its small mistress, and wanted to
go everywhere with her. The day that
it went to school and was turned out,
it happened that a young man was there
who saw the whole, and wrote out the
story in the verses which the children
know so we'll. The lamb lived and
thrived, and had lambs of its own it
ran in the fields with the cattle, till one
day a COW with sharp horns, while play.
ing, tossed it into the air, and it fell
bleeding at the feet of Mary, who hap
pened to be in the field. With deep
grief she watched its life go out. From
the lambs wool a quantity Of yarn had
been spun, and Mrs. Tyler brought
some of it to Aunt Tabitha's bee, and
sold it at % cents for each piece, SO that
up to last week Mary's little lamb had
earned $40 toward paying for the Old
South Church in Boston. This is the
true story of Marys little lamb.