Evening star., 1939-04-09
Miss Susan Hale Remembers
Mother of Thanksgiving
Retired Treasury TronsIotor's Grandmother
Known More for 'Mury's Lamb Poem
Ry JESSIE FANT EVANS.

known more fOf NJ
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.
Indelibly associated in the minds
of many of us with our memories OF
the springtime is that cherished
rhyme of our childhood which tells
of the "snoW-white fleece" of the
lamb that belonged to Mary and not
only went everywhere that she did,
but, one day. very much against
the rule" followed her to school.
Living quietly here in Washing
ton on her pension as retired clerk
and translator from the United
States Treasury Department is Miss
Susan B. Hale, gentle granddaugh-
ter of Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale.
author of Mary Had Little Lamb"
literary editor of Godeys in the
Cos, and earnest advocate of higher
education and professional oppor-
tunities for women.
Miss Hale who demures at telling
her age, but admits nine years re-
tirement from the United States
Government service. has a delight
full fund of family history about her
distinguished grandparent whose
early poem about Mary and her
lamb has won imperishable fame.
Equally interesting are her rem
iniscenses concerning certain Treas
ury legends.
"Grandmother Hale" she says,
did not consider this poem espe-
cially remarkable when it was writ
ten. for it was based on her own
childish experiences as Sarah Buell..
when she lived upon a farm and
had a pet lamb.
Copied Without Credit.
Nor did she change this opinion
when it was almost Immediately
copied in a succession of children's s
readers. usually without credit to
its author, and published in 1882
under her name in a collection
called Poems of Childhood"
Two copies of this publication are
still extant, one in the Boston Pub
lie Library, the other in the New
York Public Library.
Mother Of Thanksgiving" was the
title which the Lady of Godey's"
most fondly cherished, Miss Hale
says, because it was largely through
the eloquence of her editorials that
President Lincoln's Thanksgiving
proclamation brought about a ma
tional observance of this holiday,
whose celebration had been largely
restricted to New England"
The author of Mary Had a Little
Lamb also took great pride in her
successful crusade against the gen.
eral use of the word female" for
woman" in her era. 1t was due to
her insistent pleas that Matthew
Vassar, through whose generosity
the college which bears his name
was founded in 1861, removed the
offending word from the original
inscription over its doorway.
Her own education included a
knowledge of Latin and Greek. 1t
was secured through the cooper
alton of her brother, Horatio Gates
Buell.. whose interest and pride in
AlAo 4dVOlAUC SlSGC1 COIAV1A w DC
cure for her much the same general
education as he was afforded dar-
ing and unusual procedure in itself
for young lady of her era.
Early Left Widow.
Early left a widow with five chill
dren, of whom Miss Hale's father,
William, was the fourth. her grand
mother not only provided all of
them with splendid education
through her literary labors for
Godey's, but became a national
force in urging the then compar-
atively novel theory that education
is factor in developing good cit
izenship. Her eldest son, Horatio
Gates Hale, graduating from Har-
ward at the age of 10, Immediately
was made member of the Wilkes
Exploration Expedition and subse-
quently became an ethnologist of
international reputation.
the travel articles of Bayard Tay-
lor, which appeared in Godey's mag
azine during her grandmother
editorship of its columns, are evi-
dences, Miss Hale points out, of her
discernment in recognizing and en-
couraging budding literary talent.
Miss Hale herself was born near
Columbia. S. c.. but was appointed
in 1890 to position as clerical
assistant and translator with the
Treasury Department through civil
service examination, from Texas,
her father having bee ma lawyer
whose practice frequently took him
to Louisiana and Texas, so that he
eventually made his home near
Austin, Tex.
Her mothers father, James Wright
Simmons, was not only a poet but
the first editor of a literary maga-
zine in Charleston. Subsequently
associated with Gen. Bonaparte Mi
rabeau, second president Of Texas
when 1t was an independent repub-
lie, he became one of the first OF
the famous Texas Rangers orga-
nized to combat the hostilities with
the Indians in the years between
1886 and 1845.
Knew French and Spanish.
Possessed of fluent knowledge OF
French. perfected during her child
hood residence in New Orleans, and
of Spanish, acquired after the fam
ily's subsequent removal to Texas
when the latter was practically the
language of its inhabitants, Miss
Hale. during the early years Of her
service in the Treasury, was often
called upon to translate letters from