The Washington herald., 1910-12-04
sSTORIE57 RANOUS
5 Poems 81
No
Mary Had a Little Lamb. !"
MRS. SARAH BUELL. HALE.


Mrs. Hale has published consid-
cradle. aside from her book of verses
for children. and her writings In the
various publications she edited.
Chief among these were her WON
ans Record a volume OF nearly
ZOO pages. which passed through
several editions and was widely cir
culated both In this country and Eu-
rope.
In 1877 Mr. Cooley and Mrs Hale
both retired from active work, and,
although nearly ninety years of
age at the time, she was in full pos
session of her mental powers. To
her efforts, in a great measure was
due the raising OF Jne fund 10 COM
plete the Bunker Hill Monument at
Boston. and she was also influential
in bringing about the establishment
OF our Thanksgiving Day as na7
tional institution.
Now. as to the chief counter claim
10 "Mary's Lamb"-that of Mrs. Ty-
Tor MARY Sawy a. Some years be-
fore the death OF Mrs. Hale. when
every one was crediting her with
having written the poem. Mrs Ty-
Ter disputed the claim, and credited
John RoulsiOne with having writ
ten the first twelve lines. 10 which
Mrs. Hale added twelve more. and
appropriated the entire poem.
This is a summary Of Mrs Tyler's
statement: zone cold morning.
when | was eleven years old. went
with father 10 the barn and noticed
among the lambs one that was sick
~. and l prevailed upon him to al
low me TO take II into the house
and nurse II back TO health The
lamb became very fond of me and
followed me about everywhere. One
day, as 1 was leaving the house for
school. the lamb followed me. and in
spite OF all effort 20 get II TO re-
turn, II refused 10 do so.
Il reached the schoolhouse before
the teacher and put the lamb under
the old-fashloned, high-boarded-up
seat The lamb was quiet until L
left my seat for the spelling class,
and then IL scrambled out and fol-
lowed me. The teacher turned II
out. as the poem states. but IT lin
gered around the schoolhouse until
I went home and took it with me.
Visiting the school that fore
noon was a young man named John
Roulstone. seventeen years old. who
was fitting himself for college. He
was very much pleased with the
school incident. and the next day
came to the schoolhouse and handed
me a slip OF paper which had written
upon II three verses, which were
the original lines OF Mary Had a
Little Lamb"
From the fleece sheaTed from my
lamb after IL grew up my mother
knit two pairs of stockings. which
I kept for years IN memory of my
lamb. When the ladies were raising
money for the preservation of the
Old South Church in Boston I was
asked 10 contribute one pair of these
stockings. They were r6veled out,
pieces of the yarn were attached 10
cards having my autograph, and
these cards were sold at quite q
sum piece, am told realizing
about 500.
While this story mas the marks or
sincerity about it, the question
arises as to what had become OF the
poem from 1917 20 1890. when Mrs.
Hale incorporated It in her book.
Mary Sawyer was born in 1906. and
she claims the poem was written
when she was eleven years old, con
sequently the date OF the compost
ton was 1917.
The poem, sometimes with Mrs.
Hales name attached ard some
times anonymously. has been pub
lished In a great many editions of
readers not only IN the United States.
but in Canada and in England Mrs.
Hale did a great amount Of literary
work, some OF It very good, but
nothing that she wrote had wider
popularity than 'Mary's Lamb"
he Press" Cmpany.)