St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-06-05
CHILDREN'S STORY.
Mary and Her Little Lamb

| "N"i' Hot NC separated from his l1ttl(
mistress; who followed her to school, an6
caused such great disorder among tn,
children that the teacher would not al
low the lamb to attend school any more
am sure that all the little children who
know that story have pictured as | have
pictured, that dear little lamb waiting
patiently outside of the door for Mary
to come out, and | am sure they have
thought, just as have, on bright sunny
days when the cool winds were blowing
when the woods on the way to school
had looked so delightfully."- enticing, that
Mary's little lamb would be justified in
hating school and thinking it a great
prlson-house. | do not suppose any Of
us, when we were little, doubted for a
moment that that was real story; that
there had been real Mary who had Just
snch dear little Loving lamb, with fleece
as white as snow. But when we grow
older, and go out into the big world, and
hne that there are people who scott at
the idea of George Washington and the
cherry-tree, and that there are people
who will not believe that there was a
William Tell who shot the apple off his
boys head, and other dreadful people
who will not believe that there was a
real live Joan dare and people who tell
us that Sir Walter Raleigh never put his
cloak down for Queen Elizabeth to walk
upon then there come to us doubts as
to whether there ever was real little
Mary with real little live lamb who
followed her to school. Now, is it not
delightful to know that there was lit
tie Mary who owned just such little
lamb This is the story that is told
This little Mary, now a very old lady,
is still alive, and lives in Massachusetts,,
where so many heroes of nursery tales
as well as of our early history, still live
This is the story that Mary tells: Her
father was farmer. One night there
was born on her fathers farm a little
lamb so very weak and miserable that
no one thought it would live. Now, like
many other little girls even of today,
Mary's heart went right out to this little
weak, sickly lamb. She felt so sorry for
it that she begged her father to let her
take it and nurse it. He told her she
might. She carried the little lamb into
the house, and all day long she attended
to it tenderly and faithfully She kept it
very warm at night, and the next day
she began acting as the devoted nurse of
the little lamb. The third day the lamb
had grown so much stronger that the
farmer felt sure it would live and he told
Mary that the lamb should be hers. She
was perfectly delighted at the thought Of
the lamb belonging to her, and immedi-
ately gave it the attention that mother
would give to little sick baby. 1t grew
stronger every day, and its love for Mary
was so great that it followed her every
where that she went. The lamb was so
when separated from her that
Mary allowed it privileges of which even
the family did not approve. The time
came for Mary to go to school, and the
lamb followed her. In the school that
Mary attended was a boy who wrote
the poetry on Mary and the lamb. The
poets name we do not know. The lamb
grew up and had lambs of its own, but
its friendship for Mary and its devotion
to her in no wise abated One day, the
story is told, Mary was driving the cows
from pasture, followed by her little four.
footed friend. As they were going across
the meadow one of the COWS attacked
the lamb, now a big white sheep, and
hurt it so badly that it died. Mary's
grief was very great. The fleece was
taken from the pets body, and Mary
spun it with her own hands into warn,
part of which she kept among her treas
ures. The other day there was fair in
Boston. Some one heard of Mary and
her treasured fleece from her famous
lamb, and she was persuaded to sell part
Of the fleece and to come herself to the
fair aud to sell it to the ladies who
wished to buy. So now if any one
doubts the story of Mary and the little
amb, you can tell them this, that Mary
S alive today in Massachusetts, and has
among her treasures yarn spun from the
fleece of her beloved lamb Mary Willis
n the Outlook.