Evening star., 1936-12-07
MARY SAWYER.
BY PHILIP H. LOVE.

A Washington woman entered the
latest Mary Had a Little Lamb"
controversy today with the assertion
backed by what she considers in
disputable evidence-that w. P. A. re-
searchers are all wrong" in their
claim that the famous nursery rhyme
was written by Mrs. Sarah Josepha
Hale of Newport, N. H.
Authorship of the immortal jingle
has been in dispute many times dur
ing the last century or more, but the
most recent controversy began No
vember 27, when w. P. A. workers de-
clared it was written by Mrs. Hale in
1880, "out of her own experience"
For many years, however, the most
generally accepted version Of the origin
of the rhyme has been that 1t was
dashed of by John Roulstone, jr.. a
12-year-old Sterling, Mass, school boy,
as a result of an embarrassing mo-
ment" in the life of a schoolmate.
1913 Book Cited As Evidence.
But this version "isn't altogether
right" either. according to Mrs. Mar
garet Sutton Snead, 2401 Calvert
street, member of the information
staff of the Social Security Board.
AS evidence, Mrs. Snead produced q
book published privately in 1918 by
Mrs. Letitia White Owen. who claimed
to have interviewed relatives and
friends Of Mrs. Mary Sawyer Tyler.
generally regarded as the "inspiration"
of the jingle.
II met Mrs. Owen while living in
Mount Hope. w. Va" said Mrs. Snead.
"She was a noted social worker-in
fact, had helped Judge Ben Lindsay
in establishing this country's first
Juvenile Court in Denver-and the
State superintendent of schools had
engaged her to deliver series of lee
lures She was my house guest from
May, 1918, until the following October,
and during that time she not only
told me the true story Of Mary Had
a Little Lamb but gave me an auto
graphed copy of her book when it was
published"
Guide Soon TO Be Published.
The w. P. A. version, to be pub
lished soon in the New Hampshire
Guide, a Federal writer's project, has
it that Mrs Hale-who later became
editor Of Lady's Magazine, co-founder
of Godey's Ladys Book, co-organizer
of Vassar College and a leading pro-
moter of Thanksgiving as national
holiday-published the Jingle nearly
so years before Mrs. Tyler first
claimed to have been its inspiration.
"If the w. P. A. is right" said
Mrs. Snead, "a lot Of pretty smart
people have been fooled-including
Henry Ford, who, n the Spring Of
1927, bought what was left Of the
little red school house, to which
Mary's lamb followed her, and moved
it to his wayside Inn estate at Sud-
bury, Mass"
Mrs. Snead's version of the MARY
Had a Little Lamb" story, based on
data in Mrs. Owens book-which, in
cidentally, is declared accurate and
correct in every particular" in q
sworn statement by Mary's niece, Miss
Anna A. Sawyer-plus statements
made to her by the author. follows:
On a cold morning in March, 1914,
twin lambs were born on the farm
of Mary's father, Thomas Sawyer.
Rejected by its mother, one Of the
lambs would have frozen to death If
Mary, then about 8, hadn't taken it
into the house.
Mary fed the lamb with q nursing
bottle until it was old enough to feed
itself. BY that time, the lamb had
become so fond of Mary that /.
followed her wherever she went.
One day the lamb followed Mary
and her brother Nat to school.
Reaching the school ahead of the
teacher, Miss Polly Kimball, the
youngsters took the lamb inside, and
placed it between them on their
seat. Soon after the teacher arrived,
Mary was called to the front Of the
room to recite.
Youth Visiting School.
"The lamb followed her" Mrs.
Snead said, "and-wen, pandemo-
MUM broke loose"
Roulstone, really . 17-year-old
Harvard freshman instead Of q 12-
year-old schoolboy, happened to be
visiting the school. Perhaps for no
reason than to save Mary from i'm
mediate punishment, he walked to
the blackboard and wrote the now
famous bit of verse beginning.
MARY had little lamb. =.
TITS fleece was white As, snow;
"And everywhere that Mary went,
"The lamb was sure to 60"