One day, Mary Sawyer was heading to Redstone school with her brother when her lamb began following them. They made little effort to deter it, even helping it over a stone fence. At school, Mary hid the lamb under her desk, but when she was called to the front, it bounded up the aisle, amusing her classmates. The lamb was then shooed outside, where it patiently waited until Mary took it home at lunchtime. [1]
Yes, Mary did have a little lamb and it did follow her to school one day. Today’s beloved nursery rhyme traces its roots to an actual event that took place in a quaint village in the early 19th century.
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, born in 1908 in Sterling, Massachusetts, was a farm child who once hand-reared a lamb that had been rejected by its mother. The unnamed lamb formed a strong bond with Mary and followed her everywhere, even to school one day. But the educational establishment frowned upon lambs at school, so the teacher put him outside, where the little lamb waited for her. This charming incident captivated those who witnessed it, becoming the seed for a poem that would resonate with readers.
The poem owes much of its fame to Sarah Josepha Hale, a distinguished writer, editor, and tireless advocate for women’s education. Hale included the verses in her 1830 collection, Poems for Our Children, ensuring their place in the canon of American literature. While her role in popularising the rhyme is undisputed, questions linger over whether she penned the lines herself or merely polished an earlier version attributed to John Roulstone, a local boy inspired by Mary’s lamb. Such debates, however, only add to the mystique surrounding the rhyme’s creation, leaving us with a tale layered with both history and legend.
The journey of Mary Had a Little Lamb from rural anecdote to cultural icon took a dramatic leap in 1877 when Thomas Edison chose its opening lines to demonstrate his groundbreaking invention, the phonograph. The simple yet melodic words became the first sounds ever recorded, forever linking the rhyme to a momentous milestone in human history. This fascinating intersection of pastoral charm and technological marvel underscores the poem’s unique place in the American imagination.
Today, Mary Had a Little Lamb endures as a symbol of childhood wonder and literary simplicity. Sterling, Massachusetts, proudly commemorates its role in the story with a statue of a lamb, a tangible reminder of the poem’s origins. The rhyme’s legacy extends beyond its words, inspiring music, adaptations, and celebrations, and is a testament to the enduring appeal of stories that connect us to our shared past.
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