1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here. If you visit the 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: town of Sterling, Massachusetts today, you'll find a small copper 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: statue of a wooly little creature meant to be a 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: replica of the original lamb that followed nine year old 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: Mary Sawyer to school in eighteen fifteen. Below the statue 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: is a plaque inscribed with the famous opening verse and 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: an inscription, Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 1: white of snow, and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb 10 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: was share to go, John Rawlstone. So who exactly was 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: Mary Sawyer? And who was this John Rawlstone who allegedly 12 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: wrote to the original poem. According to a sixty page 13 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: book titled The Story of Mary and her Little Lamb 14 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: and published in ninety eight by none other than car 15 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: Mogul Henry Ford More on that later, Mary Sawyer was 16 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: a typical New England schoolgirl who nursed a starving lamb 17 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: back to health, winning a lifelong friend. In this book, 18 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: an adult Sawyer recounted, I got the lamb warm by 19 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: wrapping it in an old garment and holding it in 20 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: my arms beside the fireplace in the morning, much to 21 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: my girlish delight, it could stand, and from that time 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: it improved rapidly. It soon learned to drink milk, and 23 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: from the time it would walk about. It would follow 24 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: me anywhere if I only called it. The books behind 25 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: the Music story of the song explains that before leaving 26 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: for school one morning, Sawyer whistled for the lamb and 27 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: it came faithfully trotting over, at which point her brother 28 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: Nat suggested, let's take the lamb to school with us. 29 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: She tried to hide the lamb in a basket under 30 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: her chair, but it was discovered when she stood up 31 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: to recite a lesson and the fluffy critter started to 32 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: bleat her. Teacher, Polly Kimball laughed outright, which caused Sawyer 33 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: some embarrassment, so she took the lamb out to a 34 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: shed until school was over for the day. John Rawlstone 35 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: was a local boy preparing for college who happened to 36 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: be visiting the old Red schoolhouse that day and was, 37 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: according to Sawyer, very much pleased with the incident of 38 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: the lamb. So Ralstone went home, wrote a three stands 39 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: a poem, and returned the next day. On horseback to 40 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: hand deliver the original of Mary had a little lamb 41 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: to sawyer herself, or so the story goes in Sterling, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, 42 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: in Newport, New Hampshire, the folks celebrate hometown hero Sarah 43 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: Joseph Hale as the author of this beloved nursery Rhyme. 44 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: Hale is also famous for her role in creating the 45 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: modern American Thanksgiving via a long running letter campaign to 46 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: five U S presidents. As a young poet and writer, 47 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,359 Speaker 1: Hale moved to Boston in eighty eight to become the 48 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: editor of the first women's magazine in the United States, 49 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: later known as Goody's Ladies Book. It was in Boston 50 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: that Hale met Lowell Mason, a young musician and composer 51 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: intent on bringing music education into America's public schools. Mason 52 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: and Hale shared the belief that simple children's poems set 53 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: to music could be used to teach good Christian morals 54 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,239 Speaker 1: to kids that would help them grow into productive and 55 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: upright citizens. At Mason's request, Hale wrote a short book 56 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: of fifteen poems called Poems for Our Children, which was 57 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 1: published in eighteen thirty. Mason then wrote simple melodies to 58 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: accompany each poem, including these six verse poem then known 59 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: as Mary's Lamb. Interestingly, the tune Mason wrote for Mary's Lamb, 60 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: which was included in his eighteen thirty one book Juvenile Liar, 61 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: likely the first public school songbook, sounds nothing like the 62 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: melody we know today. That melody was borrowed later from 63 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: the course of a popular minstrel show song called good 64 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: Night Ladies. So which story is true? Sawyer claimed that 65 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: the first three verses of Hale's poem were identical to 66 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: the one written by young John Rawlstone, although the piece 67 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: of paper gifted to Sawyer had long since disappeared, and 68 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: Rawlstone tragically died while a freshman at Harvard, so he 69 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: wasn't around to corroborate. When Hale's version was included in 70 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: school readers nationwide in the eighteen fifties. Sawyer assumed that 71 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: the author had simply expanded on Rawlstone's original three verses, 72 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: but Hale denied ever seeing another version of Mary Had 73 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: a Little Lamb, and swore she had conjured the story 74 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: wholly from her imagination. Both Sawyer and Hale signed letters 75 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: and sworn statements in old age. Hale just days before 76 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: her death in eighteen eighty nine, professing that they were 77 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: telling the truth of the origin of what had already 78 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: become a classic nursery rhyme. Enter Henry Ford, after both 79 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: of the women were long gone, automobile magnate Henry Ford 80 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: stepped into the fray. In ninety seven he took up 81 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: the cause of Mary Sawyer, moving the wooden frame of 82 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: Mary's original red schoolhouse from Sterling, Massachusetts, to the nearby 83 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: town of Sudbury, where Ford owned an inn, and then 84 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: in n eight he published the aforementioned book, which gives 85 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: ral Stone full credit for the original verses, and asked 86 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: why a respected local woman who served as a matron 87 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: of the local hospital would make up such a wild 88 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: story and repeat it her entire life. Hale's defenders asked 89 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: the same question. Sandra Sonicsen volunteer archivist of the Sarah J. 90 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: Hale Collection at the Richards Free Library in Newport, New Hampshire, 91 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: writing for the library's website, said, the story of Mary 92 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: Sawyer implies that somehow Sarah Hale came across the never 93 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: published schoolhouse poem and plagiarized it. How could she have 94 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: come across it? Henry Ford's book explains the two towns 95 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: where Sawyer and Hale lived were close to each other. 96 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: They're ninety miles apart over the most direct route that 97 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: would have been followed in eighteen fifteen. Henry had not 98 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: yet invented the automobile, so the distance was considerable. In 99 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: a Baltimore Sun story from about the ongoing feud between Stirling, 100 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: Massachusetts and Newport, New Hampshire, a hail supporter and Newport 101 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: librarian weighed in, let's face it, Henry Ford made good cars. 102 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: I don't think he's a good historian. Today's episode was 103 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler. Playing brain 104 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 105 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other surprise and controversies, 106 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: visit our home planet how stuff Works dot com, and 107 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 108 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 109 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: favorite shows.